single word requests - A generic noun for something being compared?


I'm looking for a noun to use in place of "comparable object," which would make sense in the following context:



Four "comparable objects" were ranked based on their performance in a recent comparison.



I keep thinking of the word "competitor," but I'm not satisfied with it, which made me think of the following analogy:


competitor : competition :: ??? : comparison

Answer



One possible word is comparate, defined as follows:



Com"pa*rate\, n. [L. comparatum, fr. comparatus, p. p. of comparare. See 1st Compare.] (Logic) One of two things compared together.



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