adjective

commensurate

kuh-MEN-shur-uht/kəˈmenʃərət/

Matching in size, degree, or proportion.

The workers use carts with capacities commensurate with the crates' weights.

Three workers lift increasingly heavy crates with correspondingly larger wheeled carts, appropriate capacity matched.

Etymology

comLatintogether

+mensurLatinto measure

+ateLatinpast-participle ending

The pieces suggest things measured together: equal size was understood as having the same boundaries. The same correspondence can concern degree or importance, so commensurate things match in scale.

In context

University of Greenwich2:46

140 M of pipeline of each of three different sizes again commensurate with industrial sizing

Wolfson Centre Services | Tour of the pilot plant and testing laboratories

More examples

The position offers pay commensurate with your experience.
The punishment should be commensurate with the offense.
Higher fees do not always bring a commensurate improvement in service.

Forms

commensurate

commensurately adverb — In a matching degree or proportion.

Similar words

proportionate: Emphasizes a balanced ratio between two amounts or degrees.
equivalent: Means equal in value or effect, not merely appropriately scaled.
corresponding: Can indicate a matching position or role rather than magnitude.