disproportionate

adjective

dis·​pro·​por·​tion·​ate ˌdis-prə-ˈpȯr-sh(ə-)nət 

: being out of proportion

a disproportionate share

disproportionately adverb

Examples of disproportionate in a Sentence

He believes that middle-class people bear a disproportionate share of the tax burden.

A disproportionate number of the students are poor.

Recent Examples on the Web

Anthropic has pushed back hard, arguing in a blog post Friday that the government’s response is disproportionate to the actual risk. —Sandy Carter, Forbes.com, 13 June 2026

Weight cycling did not produce disproportionate muscle wasting compared with staying at a higher stable weight. —Allison Palmer updated June 13, Kansas City Star, 13 June 2026

Portugal’s influence on arguably the team of the decade, the back-to-back European champions, is, once again, disproportionate for a nation of its size. —James Horncastle, New York Times, 10 June 2026

If a location generates a disproportionate number of police service calls, that’s not enough to compel the city to take action. —Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Medieval Latin disprōportiōnātus, past participle of disprōportiōnāre "to make out of proportion," from Latin dis- dis- + Medieval Latin prōportiōnāre "to compose according to proportions" — more at proportion entry 2

First Known Use

1555, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for disproportionate

• extortionate
• proportionate

Kids Definition

disproportionate

adjective

dis·​pro·​por·​tion·​ate ˌdis-prə-ˈpōr-sh(ə-)nət 

-ˈpȯr-

: being out of proportion

disproportionately adverb