compare to vs compare with

brianleeeee

QUESTION

What is the difference between \"compare with\" and \"compare to\"? I had always thought that the former applied to comparisons of similar objects, and the latter to more figurative comparisons. Is that correct? (The reason I'm asking is that I recently heard something different.)

RESPONSE

According to Burchfield, in British English, we would invariably use \"with\" when \"compare\" is used intransitively: \"This compares favorably with the inertness of England\" and \"New York does not for a moment compare with Chicago.\" But this distinction does not always hold in American English. Otherwise, according to Burchfield, \"compare\" is used with either \"with\" and \"to\" except that when the stress is on similarities, \"to\" is much more often regarded as appropriate. Authority: The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996. Used with the permission of Oxford University Press. The American Heritage Dictionary, on the other hand, has this citation regarding this distinction: [blockquote]In formal usage, \"compare to\" is the only acceptable form when \"compare\" means representing as similar or likening, according to 71 per cent of the Usage Panel: \"compare a voice to thunder.\" In such comparisons the similarities are often metaphorical rather than real; the things compared are of fundamentally unlike orders, and a general likeness is intended rather than a detailed accounting. \"Compare with\" is the only acceptable form in the sense of examining in order to note similarities or differences, according to 70 per cent of the Panel: \"compare Sheldon's poetry with Wordsworth's.\" Here the things compared are of like kinds, and specific resemblances and differences are examined in detail. Informally, \"to\" and \"with\" are often used interchangeably in the foregoing examples. In formal usage, only \"compare with\" is acceptable when \"compare\" intransitively means being worthy of comparison, according to 94 per cent of the Panel: \"romises do not compare with deeds.\" In such constructions, \"compare to\" is infrequent, even in informal usage.[/blockquote]