DISPROPORTION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Disproportion

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noun

Disproportion n.

Want of proportion in form or quantity; lack of symmetry; as, the arm may be in disproportion to the body; the disproportion of the length of a building to its height.

Want of suitableness, adequacy, or due proportion to an end or use; unsuitableness; disparity; as, the disproportion of strength or means to an object.

verb

Disproportion v. t. (past & past part. disproportioned; pres. part. disproportioning) To make unsuitable in quantity, form, or fitness to an end; to violate symmetry in; to mismatch; to join unfitly. "To shape my legs of an unequal size; To disproportion me in every part." "A degree of strength altogether disproportioned to the extent of its territory."

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Etymology of 'Disproportion'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Disproportion" Quotes from Famous Books

... at length to have made its way to the minds of all that the disproportion between the public responsibilities and the means provided for meeting them is no casual nor transient evil. It is, on the contrary, one which for some years to come, notwithstanding a resort to all reasonable retrenchments and the constant ...

— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Tyler - Section 2 (of 3) of Volume 4: John Tyler • Compiled by James D. Richardson

... the putrefaction of death. The truly cultured man is developed in harmony with the laws of his being. This being is compound, having a fleshly and a spiritual side. Hence, to cultivate one to the neglect of the other is to disproportion him whom God created in His own image. As we exist first in time and next in eternity, that culture which loses sight of either state misconceives the full mission of man. Man's conception of his present mission and ultimate ...

— Autobiography of Frank G. Allen, Minister of the Gospel - and Selections from his Writings • Frank G. Allen

... from the minds of some of my readers. The weight of the humming-bird is one drachm, that of the condor not less than four stone. Now, if we reduce four stone into drachms we shall find the condor is 14,336 times as heavy as the humming-bird. What an amazing disproportion of weight! Yet by the same mechanical use of its wings the condor can overcome the specific gravity of its body with as much ease as the little humming-bird. But this is not all. We are informed that this enormous bird possesses a power in its wings, so far exceeding what ...

— A History of Aeronautics • E. Charles Vivian

... But for me, my forebears were savages two hundred years ago. My people learn to know civilization by the lowest and most degrading contact with it, and thus equipped or unequipped I tempt, an abnormal contest. Can't you see the disproportion?" ...

— The Strength of Gideon and Other Stories • Paul Laurence Dunbar

... than 500 lbs. and wethers not more than 40 lbs. At Port Dalrymple it is no uncommon occurrence for yearly lambs to weigh from 100 to 120 lbs. and for three year old wethers to weigh 150 lbs. and upwards; but this great disproportion of weight arises in some measure from the greater part of the sheep at this settlement, having become, from constant crossing, nearly of the pure Teeswater breed. Still the superior richness of the natural pastures in these southern ...

— Statistical, Historical and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales and its Dependent Settlements in Van Diemen's Land • William Charles Wentworth

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