disproportion

English

Etymology

dis- + proportion

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /dɪspɹəˈpɔːʃən/
  • (file)

Noun

disproportion (countable and uncountable, plural disproportions)

  1. The state of being out of proportion; an abnormal or improper ratio; an imbalance.
    • 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XIII, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 208:
      [] a handsome creature, remarkably so, with features so symmetrical [] that a micrometer gauge could scarcely find a disproportion in her smooth and broad mahogany-coloured face.
    • 1978 December 9, Nancy Walker, “Sexism and Racism at GCN?”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 20, page 10:
      Then we, the social outsiders, turn around and dictate how men shall treat women (seldom, if ever, how women shall treat men; power in men's rather than women's hands being the excuse offered for this lop-sided arrangement), and how whites shall treat blacks (the same disproportion exists here too).
    the disproportion of the length of a building to its height
  2. Lack of suitableness, adequacy, or due proportion to an end or use; unsuitableness.
    the disproportion of strength or means to an object

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

disproportion (third-person singular simple present disproportions, present participle disproportioning, simple past and past participle disproportioned)

  1. (transitive) To make unsuitable in quantity, form, or fitness; to violate symmetry in; to mismatch.

French

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Noun

disproportion f (plural disproportions)

  1. disproportion

Further reading

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