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Agree vs Square vs Conform vs Accord vs Harmonize vs Correspond vs Tally vs Jibe

Agree, Square, Conform, Accord, Harmonize, Correspond, Tally and Jibe mean to exist or go together without conflict or incongruity.

One thing agrees with another when their comparison or association reveals no discrepancy, no inequality, or no untoward effects.

  • the conclusion agrees with the evidence
  • the two accounts agree in every particular
  • pronouns must agree with their antecedents in person, number, and gender

One thing squares with another when there is exact, almost mathematically exact, agreement between the two.

  • force facts to square with a theory
  • the corporation must, if it is to survive, square itself with the basic beliefs of the American people
    Lindeman

One thing conforms to or with another when there is likeness or agreement in form, in nature, or in essential character.

  • since theology was philosophy’s queen, medieval philosophy conformed to that system which Augustine employed in his theology
    H. O. Taylor
  • my views of conduct … conform with what seem to me the implications of my beliefs
    —7. S. Eliot

One thing accords with another when there is perfect fitness in the relation or association as in character, spirit, quality, or tone.

  • the speaker’s remarks did not accord with the sentiments of those who listened to him
  • the common doctrine of liberty accorded with the passions released by the Revolution
    Parrington

One thing harmonizes with another when, in spite of their real and often marked differences, their combination or juxtaposition produces an agreeable or aesthetic effect.

  • from the waves, sound . . . broke forth harmonizing with solitude
    Shelley

the need for the United States to harmonize its practices in foreign affairs more closely than in the past with its professed ideals
Dean

One thing corresponds to or with another when, however far apart or however close the two things may be, they belong together because they match each other, complement each other, or answer to each other. Sometimes correspond implies agreement.

  • fulfillment seldom corresponds to anticipation
  • I should never correspond to your pattern of a lady
    George Eliot

Sometimes it implies an analogous relation.

  • the bird’s wing corresponds to the human arm

Sometimes it implies commensurateness.

  • incomes do not always correspond with the efforts or skill that appear to be involved
    Hobson

One thing tallies with another when the correspondence is so close that they either complement each other or agree with each other.

  • pain and pleasure no more tally in our sense than red and green
    Browning

Jibe is sometimes equivalent to agree, sometimes to harmonize, and sometimes to accord.

  • his actions do not jibe with his words
  • his looks jibed with the stage driver’s description of him
    Luke Short