English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
When I have two items and they are the same, we can say that they possess "equality".
Let's say I have three or four items and they are all the same. What do we call the quality that they possess? Can we say the three items possess "equality" too? What are the other words for this quality?
For example, I have four athletes and they are all equal in strength. What do we call the equality among their strengths?
Thank you!
Equality - the state of being equal, esp. in status
When you have two items that are the same, we cannot say that they possess equality (unless dealing with numbers). When two items are the same, they are the same. When three, or four items are the same, they are the same.
In your example, you are not saying that the items are the same, but that the status of the items is equal, and therefore, their strength expresses equality. The equality among their strengths would be: equal strength. There isn't a one word as far as I know for that.
TL;DR: Items that are the same (except for numbers) do not express equality, only the status of those items (if the status of the items are equal).
Sameness? Identity? Unity? Similitude?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_%28philosophy%29
I think what you are looking for may best be expressed as "of equal value" or "of equal utility," but that doesn't fit into one word very neatly, unless one of the above suggestions works.
