Adjacent Words

Equality definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EQUAL'ITY, n. [L. oequalitas.] An agreement of things in dimensions, quantity or quality; likeness; similarity in regard to two things compared. We speak of the equality of two or more tracts of land, of two bodies in length, breadth or thickness, of virtues or vices.
1. The same degree of dignity or claims; as the equality of men in the scale of being; the equality of nobles of the same rank; an equality of rights.
2. Evenness; uniformity; sameness in state or continued course; as an equality of temper or constitution.
3. Evenness; plainness; uniformity; as an equality of surface.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the quality of being the same in quantity or measure or value or status [ant: inequality]
2: a state of being essentially equal or equivalent; equally balanced; "on a par with the best" [syn: equality, equivalence, equation, par]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -ties) Date: 15th century 1. the quality or state of being equal 2. equation 2a

Britannica Concise

Generally, an ideal of uniformity in treatment or status by those in a position to affect either. Acknowledgment of the right to equality often must be coerced from the advantaged by the disadvantaged. Equality of opportunity was the founding creed of U.S. society, but equality among all races and between the sexes has proved easier to legislate than to achieve in practice. Social or religious inequality is deeply ingrained in some cultures and thus difficult to overcome (see caste). Government efforts to achieve economic equality include enhancing opportunities through tax policy, subsidized training and education, redistributing wealth or resources, and preferential treatment of those historically treated unequally (see affirmative action). See also civil-rights movement, feminism, gay-rights movement, human rights, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. the state of being equal. Etymology: ME f. OF equalité f. L aequalitas -tatis (as EQUAL)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Equality E*qual"i*ty, n.; pl. Equalities. [L. aequalitas, fr. aequalis equal. See Equal.] 1. The condition or quality of being equal; agreement in quantity or degree as compared; likeness in bulk, value, rank, properties, etc.; as, the equality of two bodies in length or thickness; an equality of rights. A footing of equality with nobles. --Macaulay. 2. Sameness in state or continued course; evenness; uniformity; as, an equality of temper or constitution. 3. Evenness; uniformity; as, an equality of surface. 4. (Math.) Exact agreement between two expressions or magnitudes with respect to quantity; -- denoted by the symbol =; thus, a = x signifies that a contains the same number and kind of units of measure that x does. Confessional equality. See under Confessional.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Equality is the same status, rights, and responsibilities for all the members of a society, group, or family. ...equality of the sexes.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

e-kwol'-i-ti (isotes):

In 2Co 8:14, literally,. "out of equality," i.e. "in equal proportion" or "that there may be equality." In Php 2:6, it occurs in a paraphrase of Greek to einai isa theo, "the being on an equality with God." In this much-discussed passage, isa, according to a not unusual Attic idiom, is construed adverbially (see Meyer on passage), meaning, therefore, not `the being equal' (the King James Version), which would require ison, but "the having equal prerogatives and privileges." The personal equality is one thing; the equality of attributes is another, and it is the latter which is here expressed (Lightfoot). The "being on an equality" and the "having equal prerogatives" are both deductions from the possession of "the form of God." The thought is that if He who had "the form of God" had under all circumstances exercised His Divine attributes, He would have been employing only what belonged to Him, and would in no way have derogated from what belongs only to God. We regard this as referring to the incarnate Son in His historical manifestation.

H. E. Jacobs

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Likeness, identity in quantity, identical value. 2. Uniformity, evenness. 3. Sameness of rank, co-equality.

Moby Thesaurus

agreement, analogy, balance, bilateral symmetry, coequality, coincidence, comparability, comparison, conformity, congruence, congruity, consistency, correspondence, dynamic symmetry, egalitarianism, equilibrium, equivalence, equivalency, eurythmics, eurythmy, evenness, fairness, finish, harmony, homogeneity, homoousia, identity, impartiality, indistinguishability, justice, keeping, likeness, multilateral symmetry, no difference, oneness, par, parallelism, parity, polarity, proportion, proportionality, regularity, resemblance, sameness, self-identity, selfhood, selfness, selfsameness, shapeliness, similarity, similitude, symmetricalness, symmetry, synonymity, synonymousness, synonymy, trilateral symmetry, uniformity, unity