Emily Dickinson Lexicon

E-QUIV'A-LENT, a.

1. Equal in value or worth. In barter, the goods given are supposed to be equivalent to the goods received. Equivalent in value or worth, is tautological.
2. Equal in force, power or effect. A steam engine may have force or power equivalent to that of thirty horses.
3. Equal in moral force, cogency or effect on the mind. Circumstantial evidence may be almost equivalent to full proof.
4. Of the same import or meaning. Friendship and amity are equivalent terms. For now to serve and to minister, servile and ministerial, are terms equivalent. South. Equivalent propositions in logic are called also equipolent.
5. Final in excellence or moral worth. Milton.