English

Alternative forms

• equalise (non-Oxford British spelling)
• æqualize (obsolete)

Verb

equalize ‎(third-person singular simple present equalizes, present participle equalizing, simple past and past participle equalized)

1. (transitive) To make equal; to cause to correspond in amount or degree.

   to equalize accounts, burdens, or taxes

   • Wordsworth

     One poor moment can suffice / To equalize the lofty and the low.

   • Whately

     No system of instruction will completely equalize natural powers.

2. (obsolete, transitive) To be equal to; to equal, to rival. [16th-19th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.9:

     But a third kingdom yet is to arise / Out of the Trojans scattered ofspring, / That in all glory and great enterprise, / Both first and second Troy shall dare to equalise.

   • Milton

     polling the reformed churches whether they equalize in number those of his three kingdoms

3. (intransitive, sports) To make the scoreline equal by scoring points. [from 20th c.]
4. (underwater diving) To clear the ears to balance the pressure in the middle ear with the outside pressure by letting air enter along the Eustachian tubes.
5. (category theory) Said of a morphism: to pre-compose with each of a parallel pair of morphisms so as to yield the same composite morphism.

Derived terms

• equalizer, equaliser
• equalization, equalisation

Translations