equivalentadj/ɪˈkwɪvələnt/

• 1

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

  • To burn calories, a thirty-minute jog is equivalent to a couple of hamburgers.
  • For now to serve and to minister, servile and ministerial, are terms equivalent.
• 2

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

  • All enumerable sets are equivalent to each other, but not to any finite set.
  • Equivalent sets should, by rights, have the same "number" of elements. For this reason we sometimes say that equivalent sets have the same cardinality.
• 3

  mathematicssciencesRelating to the corresponding elements of an equivalence relation.

• 4

  category-theorycomputingengineeringOf two categories, (informally) such that one is essentially a relabeling of the other; (formally) related by a pair of functors such the composition of the one with the other is naturally isomorphic to the identity functor.

• 5

  chemistrynatural-sciencesphysical-sciencesHaving the equal ability to combine.

• 6

  cartographygeographynatural-sciencesOf a map, equal-area.

• 7

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

  • A square may be equivalent to a triangle.

equivalentnoun/ɪˈkwɪvələnt/

• 1

  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  • He owned that, if the Test Act were repealed, the Protestants were entitled to an equivalent, and went so far as to suggest several equivalents.
  • Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern. This difficult effort will be the "moral equivalent of war" — except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy.
• 2

  chemistrynatural-sciencesphysical-sciencesAn equivalent weight.

equivalentverb/ɪˈkwɪvələnt/

• 1

  To make equivalent to; to equal.