Definition of DISPARITY

Other Words from disparate

disparately adverb

disparateness noun

disparity \ di-ˈsper-ə-tē

, -ˈspa-rə- \ noun

Choose the Right Synonym for disparate

different, diverse, divergent, disparate, various mean unlike in kind or character. different may imply little more than separateness but it may also imply contrast or contrariness. different foods diverse implies both distinctness and marked contrast. such diverse interests as dancing and football divergent implies movement away from each other and unlikelihood of ultimate meeting or reconciliation. went on to pursue divergent careers disparate emphasizes incongruity or incompatibility. disparate notions of freedom various stresses the number of sorts or kinds. tried various methods

Examples of disparate in a Sentence

First during the nineteen-seventies, but with increasing momentum during the eighties, a loose community of physics researchers had begun to postulate that the disparate small particles that we learned about in high-school science class—electrons, for instance—were actually the varied vibrations of tiny open and closed looped strings. — Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 21 July 2008 The American border with Mexico is among the most economically disparate intersections in the world, but the cities on either side of the port looked almost identical—a spread of humble brick and cinder-block homes dotting a blanket of brown hills. — Cecilia Balli, Harper's, October 2006 I made the French lemon cream tart that Greenspan credits to Hermé and got disparate reactions. An American friend loved its creaminess and felt it had a comfortingly familiar texture; a British friend … said he missed the traditional sharp, gel-like custard. — Tamasin Day-Lewis, Saveur, November 2006 Like these imagined cities, identical twins are identical only in their blueprints. By the time they are born, they are already disparate in countless neurological and physiological ways that mostly we cannot see. — Frank J. Sulloway, New York Review, 30 Nov. 2006 The plan, as near as anybody outside Yahoo can make out, is to stitch all those disparate organizations into one huge Frankenstein's monster of a search engine that will strike terror into the hearts of all who behold it. — Lev Grossman, Time, 22 Dec. 2003 disparate notions among adults and adolescents about when middle age begins

Recent Examples on the Web

Previously listed separately, these disparate elements (and the entire acreage) are now being offered together for the hot price of $279 million by LIV Sotheby's in Denver. — Alexander Stoklosa, Car and Driver, "Car Museum for Sale, Comes with a Resort; $279 Million OBO," 2 June 2019 The left assumes that the presence of disparate outcomes proves inherent bias requiring state remediation, even where proof of intent or even deliberate action is absent. — Bobby Jindal, WSJ, "The Roots of Political Polarization," 1 Nov. 2018 Despite their disparate paths, Bush and Colston each enjoyed spectacularly successful careers in New Orleans and left the Saints as Super Bowl champions and beloved heroes. — Jeff Duncan, nola.com, "Reggie Bush, Marques Colston headline stellar Saints Hall of Fame Class of 2019," 5 June 2019 At the same time, managing data has grown increasingly complex, the result of multiple data centers and data storage repositories across disparate systems, multiple copies of the same data and new data privacy laws. — Sara Castellanos, WSJ, "Morgan Stanley Center of Excellence Readies Bank for AI’s Data Demands," 22 Apr. 2019 What the update really does is simply tie many of these disparate systems and stories together. — Steven Strom, Ars Technica, "With NEXT update, No Man’s Sky finally brings it all together," 6 Aug. 2018 The RapidSOS pipeline is based on standard Internet industry protocols to communicate with these disparate systems. — Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY, "Calling 911? Your iPhone will be able to tell a first responder where you are.," 18 June 2018 But these barriers are likely to be lowered as advances in technology untangle unstructured data and companies develop solutions for merging disparate systems to more effectively collect and analyze health data. — Neile Grayson, STAT, "Real-world data can help make better drugs and do it faster," 2 May 2018 That community was mostly made up of women in their teens and early 20s, which was cohesive as a demographic but wildly disparate in legal ramifications, as Dash put it. — Bijan Stephen, The Verge, "Tumblr’s porn ban could be its downfall — after all, it happened to LiveJournal," 6 Dec. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'disparate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for disparate

borrowed from Latin disparātus "separate, distinct," from past participle of disparāre "to divide, separate off, make different," from dis- dis- + parāre "to supply, provide, make ready" (influenced in sense by association with dispar-, dispār "unequal, different") — more at pare

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