disproportionate

adjective dis·pro·por·tion·ate \ -sh(ə-)nət \

|Updated on: 13 Jun 2018

Examples: disproportionate in a Sentence

Definition of disproportionate

: being out of proportion

a disproportionate share

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disproportionately

adverb

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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 of disproportionate from the Web

The United Nations Human Rights Council voted last Friday to censure Israel for disproportionate use of force.

— herbert buchsbaum, New York Times, "Israeli Video Portrays Medic Killed in Gaza as Tool of Hamas," 7 June 2018
That figure, which dropped to 25 percent in 2017, remains disproportionate.

— mychal denzel smith, The New Republic, "How America became over-policed," 5 June 2018
According to the latest data, there are 437,500 children in America’s foster care system, who like Randy, face a disproportionate risk of being incarcerated.

— rachel anspach, Teen Vogue, "The Foster Care to Prison Pipeline: What It Is and How It Works," 25 May 2018
Women bear a disproportionate brunt of the national student debt, and that has and continues to cost them billions in lost wealth and missed opportunities.

— mattie kahn, Glamour, "Women Owe Almost $400 Billion More in Student Debt Than Men Do. You Can Blame That on the Patriarchy.," 24 May 2018
Also disproportionate: the collusion between the FBI and local law enforcement to illegally jail, frame, beat, and even murder members of the Black Panther Party.

— nicole hemmer, Vox, "The government prosecution of a “black identity extremist” fell apart. Meanwhile, white supremacists are on the march.," 18 May 2018
Newsom: Says more cap-and-trade money should be spent on low-income communities that have suffered a disproportionate environmental toll. Supports a ban on future fracking but not on current operations.

— San Francisco Chronicle, "Where candidates for governor stand on California’s biggest issues," 17 May 2018
FIFPro considers the ban unfair and disproportionate, and the latest example of a World Anti-Doping Code that too often leads to inappropriate sanctions, especially when it has been established that there was no intent to cheat.

— avi creditor, SI.com, "Paolo Guerrero Blasts CAS Ruling That Rules Peru Captain Out of World Cup," 15 May 2018
Israeli army must stop its disproportionate use of violence against Palestinian protesters.

— john bacon, USA TODAY, "Palestinians bury Gaza dead as more violence feared on 'Day of Catastrophe'," 15 May 2018

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