disproportionate

Etymology

It is formed from English dis- + proportionate,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} probably on the pattern of Middle French disproportionné, recorded from 1534.^[4][7][8][2] proportionate is from Medieval Latin proportionatus (“proportioned”), from Latin prōportiō (“proportion”).^[2][3] The noun disproportion is recorded from the same year, perhaps after disproportion (1549),^[4] and the synonym improportionate from the late 14th century.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Out of proportion, lacking due proportion: 1555, in Richard Eden's translation of Peter Martyr's Decades.^[2][4][5] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1544–55.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as "unsymmetrical; unsuitable to something else either in bulk or value".^[9] It is often followed by to, and the sense "relatively too large or too small" is now the usual one.^[2][8][10] In the 20th century chemistry formed a verb disproportionate, "to undergo disproportionation", first recorded in 1934 in Webster's New International Dictionary; the OED takes it as a back-formation from disproportionated, and the Shorter Oxford from disproportionation.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1555 – out of proportion; unsymmetrical.^[2][4][5]
• 1934 – chemistry, verb, to undergo disproportionation.^[2][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Too large or too small in comparison with something else; out of proportion: The fine was disproportionate to the offence.^{[10][5][8][2]}
2. Badly proportioned; unsymmetrical.^[5][2][9]

Verb

1. (chemistry) To undergo, or cause to undergo, disproportionation.^[10][5][2]

Word family

• disproportionately
• disproportionateness

Related words

• disproportion
• proportion
• proportionate

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins