disparity

noun

dis·​par·​i·​ty di-ˈsper-ə-tē 

-ˈspa-rə-

plural disparities

: a noticeable and usually significant difference or dissimilarity

economic/income disparities

The fact is that America's colleges … have lately been exacerbating more than ameliorating the widening disparity of wealth and opportunity in American society.

—Andrew Delbanco

… in no other composer is the disparity between the man and his work so immense. Bach's life is considered stupefyingly ordinary, but his music is divine …

—Edward Rothstein

Did you know?

Disparity contains the Latin dis, meaning "apart" or "non-", so a disparity is a kind of "nonequality". The word is often used to describe a social or economic condition that's considered unfairly unequal: a racial disparity in hiring, a health disparity between the rich and the poor, an income disparity between men and women, and so on. Its adjective, disparate (accented on the first syllable), is often used to emphasize strong differences.

Synonyms

• contrast
• difference
• disagreement
• discrepancy
• disparateness
• dissimilarity
• dissimilitude
• distance
• distinction
• distinctiveness
• distinctness
• diverseness
• diversity
• otherness
• unlikeness

Examples of disparity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The racial disparity in payments reflected the significant difference in the value placed on a European life compared to that of an Indian, with the former being valued at almost 200 times higher. —TIME, 23 Apr. 2024

The state’s Employment Development Department report Friday continued to show a wide disparity in the unemployment rates by counties, with those in the Central Valley and some rural areas in double digits while the Bay Area and Orange County were below 4%. —Don Lee, Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 2024

Michigan has more severe racial disparities in its health care system than other Great Lakes states, with Black residents experiencing the poorest outcomes, a new national analysis shows. —Eleanore Catolico, Detroit Free Press, 19 Apr. 2024

Wide racial and ethnic disparities exist in how the health care system works in Arizona, a new report shows. —Daniel Gonzalez, The Arizona Republic, 18 Apr. 2024

His research in Florida shows that Black students experienced slightly higher rates of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions than white students — a much smaller disparity than the national average. —Aliyya Swaby, ProPublica, 17 Apr. 2024

With some online commentators expressing surprise at Clark's pay, President Biden weighed in Tuesday on the issue of pay disparity in sports. —Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 17 Apr. 2024

These barriers and disparities, coupled with low screening rates, unfortunately, translate to worse prostate cancer outcomes for Black men, who are 70% more likely to get prostate cancer than white men, and twice as likely to die from it. —Robin Cole, Fortune, 12 Apr. 2024

But the school system has long had an achievement gap between white and Black students, with Black students graduating and attending college at lower rates, despite years of lawsuits and programs to fix the disparities. —John Leland John Leland, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French & Late Latin; Middle French disparité, borrowed from Late Latin disparitāt-, disparitās, from Latin dispar-, dispār "unequal, different" (from dis- dis- + par-, pār "matching, equal," of uncertain origin) + -itāt-, -itās -ity

First Known Use

1571, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

disparity

noun

dis·​par·​i·​ty dis-ˈpar-ət-ē 

plural disparities

: the state of being different or dissimilar (as in the sensory information received) see retinal disparity