disproportionate

adjective

dis·​pro·​por·​tion·​ate ˌdis-prə-ˈpȯr-sh(ə-)nət How to pronounce disproportionate (audio)
: 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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Lawmakers and advocates have long complained about the lack of research into fibroids, and especially about their disproportionate impact on Black women. Deborah Barfield Berry, USA Today, 16 July 2025 The agentic revolution is accelerating, and the companies that recognize this shift will capture disproportionate value in the emerging economy. Steven Wolfe Pereira, Forbes.com, 11 July 2025 For 21 months, Israeli armed forces have been bombing Gaza into a landscape of rubble and buried corpses—a massively disproportionate retaliation for the Hamas attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed over 1,200 Israelis. Daniel R. Depetris, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 July 2025 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials have cited a lack of adequate funding, racial bias, language barriers and mistrust of the medical system among the reasons that gay and bisexual Latino men account for a disproportionate percentage of new HIV cases. Tyrone Beason follow, Los Angeles Times, 9 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for disproportionate

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of disproportionate was in 1555

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Disproportionate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disproportionate. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.

Kids Definition

disproportionate

adjective
dis·​pro·​por·​tion·​ate ˌdis-prə-ˈpōr-sh(ə-)nət How to pronounce disproportionate (audio)
-ˈpȯr-
: being out of proportion
disproportionately adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on disproportionate

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!