unrepresentative
adjective
un·rep·re·sen·ta·tive
ˌən-ˌre-pri-ˈzen-tə-tiv 
: not representative: such as
a
: not typical or characteristic : atypical
an unrepresentative sample
We only claim that our town is not all that unrepresentative of America in its mixture of idealism and weakness, ambitions and muddles …—
Judith Martin
Judith Martin
b
: not representing an electorate
an unrepresentative judiciary
unrepresentativeness
noun
Examples of unrepresentative in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
But California voters are not entirely unrepresentative of the nation.
—George Skelton, The Mercury News, 3 Apr. 2024
The acronym was first coined in an influential 2010 paper to describe the wildly unrepresentative populations that many psychology studies have long relied on.
—Connie Chang, The Atlantic, 15 Feb. 2024
And in 2022, Meta, which owns Facebook, restricted a tool called CrowdTangle that journalists and researchers had used to show which posts were most popular — often with embarrassing, odd or politically skewed results — after executives said the tool was unrepresentative of normal use.
—Drew Harwell, Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2024
The winter weather, intimidating even for Iowa, made an already unrepresentative process even less representative.
—Steve Peoples, Fortune, 16 Jan. 2024
And how can an unrepresentative sample find a representative sample to poll?
—Ginny Hogan, The New Yorker, 4 Jan. 2024
The season’s first trophies are determined by a small, unrepresentative body of New Yorkers, some of whom are my co-workers.
—Vulture, 27 Oct. 2023
Only two Black women have served in the whole history of the Senate, which is, bluntly stated, wildly unrepresentative and a disgrace.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2023
The United States must always advocate for democracy and human rights everywhere, but that commitment must not blind Washington to the reality that U.S. national interests sometimes require it to work with repressive, unrepresentative governments.
—Robert M. Gates, Foreign Affairs, 29 Sep. 2023
George Skelton, The Mercury News, 3 Apr. 2024
The acronym was first coined in an influential 2010 paper to describe the wildly unrepresentative populations that many psychology studies have long relied on.
—Connie Chang, The Atlantic, 15 Feb. 2024
And in 2022, Meta, which owns Facebook, restricted a tool called CrowdTangle that journalists and researchers had used to show which posts were most popular — often with embarrassing, odd or politically skewed results — after executives said the tool was unrepresentative of normal use.
—Drew Harwell, Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2024
The winter weather, intimidating even for Iowa, made an already unrepresentative process even less representative.
—Steve Peoples, Fortune, 16 Jan. 2024
And how can an unrepresentative sample find a representative sample to poll?
—Ginny Hogan, The New Yorker, 4 Jan. 2024
The season’s first trophies are determined by a small, unrepresentative body of New Yorkers, some of whom are my co-workers.
—Vulture, 27 Oct. 2023
Only two Black women have served in the whole history of the Senate, which is, bluntly stated, wildly unrepresentative and a disgrace.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2023
The United States must always advocate for democracy and human rights everywhere, but that commitment must not blind Washington to the reality that U.S. national interests sometimes require it to work with repressive, unrepresentative governments.
—Robert M. Gates, Foreign Affairs, 29 Sep. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unrepresentative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Unrepresentative.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unrepresentative. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
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