(equivalents)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
If one amount or value is the equivalent of another, they are the same.
The equivalent of two tablespoons of polyunsaturated oils is ample each day...
Even the cheapest car costs the equivalent of 70 years' salary for a government worker.
N-SING: oft N of n
•
Equivalent is also an adjective.
A unit is equivalent to a glass of wine or a single measure of spirits...
They will react with hostility to the price rises and calls for equivalent wage increases are bound to be heard.
= equal
ADJ: oft ADJ to n
2.
The equivalent of someone or something is a person or thing that has the same function in a different place, time, or system.
...the civil administrator of the West Bank and his equivalent in Gaza.
...the Red Cross emblem, and its equivalent in Muslim countries, the Red Crescent.
= counterpart
N-COUNT: usu with poss
•
Equivalent is also an adjective.
...a decrease of 10% in property investment compared with the equivalent period in 1991.
ADJ
3.
You can use equivalent to emphasize the great or severe effect of something.
His party has just suffered the equivalent of a near-fatal heart attack.
N-SING: the N of n [emphasis]