Idiom
apples to apples, oranges to oranges
Meaning
A comparison of items that are similar, while also acknowledging or distinguishing a separation of their sets or categories.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“You cannot compare these cars; it is apples to apples, oranges to oranges.”
“When analyzing the sales data, we must separate the retail and wholesale sectors to ensure we are comparing apples to apples, oranges to oranges.”
“To reach a fair conclusion regarding the two different economic models, the researchers insisted on comparing apples to apples, oranges to oranges, rather than conflating disparate variables.”
Examples
simple
“You cannot compare these cars; it is apples to apples, oranges to oranges.”
contextual
“When analyzing the sales data, we must separate the retail and wholesale sectors to ensure we are comparing apples to apples, oranges to oranges.”
complex
“To reach a fair conclusion regarding the two different economic models, the researchers insisted on comparing apples to apples, oranges to oranges, rather than conflating disparate variables.”
Key words
Related idioms
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