equivalent

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person or thing equal to another in value or measure or force or effect or significance etc

   send two dollars or the equivalent in stamps

2. 2
   adj

   Similar or identical in value, meaning or effect; virtually equal.

   To burn calories, a thirty-minute jog is equivalent to a couple of hamburgers.

3. 3
   adj

   Of two sets, having a one-to-one correspondence.

   All enumerable sets are equivalent to each other, but not to any finite set.

4. 4
   adj

   Equal in measure but not admitting of superposition; applied to magnitudes.

   A square may be equivalent to a triangle.

5. 5
   noun

   Anything that is virtually equal to something else, or has the same value, force, etc.

   He owned that, if the Test Act were repealed, the Protestants were entitled to an equivalent, and went so far as to suggest several equivalents.

6. 6
   adj

   being essentially equal to something

7. 7
   noun

   the atomic weight of an element that has the same combining capacity as a given weight of another element

8. 8
   adj

   Relating to the corresponding elements of an equivalence relation.

Etymology

From Latin aequivalentem, accusative singular of aequivalēns, present active participle of aequivaleō (“to be equivalent, have equal power”). By surface analysis, equi- + -valent. Mostly displaced native Middle English efenmete (See evenmete).