imbalance

Etymology

It is formed from English im- + balance, with the prefix meaning "not".^[2][3][4][5] Merriam-Webster and Webster's Third give the prefix as in-, which takes the form im- before b.^[6][7] The noun balance goes back to Old French balance (“balance, scales”), from Medieval Latin bilancia, from Late Latin bilanx (“having two scale pans”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An unbalanced condition, a lack of the proper proportion between corresponding things: first in 1898, in the Ophthalmic Record;^[2] Etymonline finds it by 1891 in medical writing, of the muscles and the eyes.^[3] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1890,^[6][8] and Dictionary.com to 1895–1900.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a technical term in ophthalmology, for a faulty relation between the axes of the eyes caused by their muscles,^[9][6][3] and was soon used more generally.^[2] Merriam-Webster records its use for a lack of equilibrium in a gland or the body, for a lack of balance between parts of a nation's economy, such as debits and credits in international payments, and for an uneven proportion of males and females in a population.^[6]

Timeline

• by 1891 – in medical writing, of the muscles and the eyes.^[3]
• 1898 – an unbalanced condition; first in an ophthalmic journal.^[2][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lack of balance or of proper proportion between things: an imbalance between supply and demand.^[10][2][11]
2. In economics, a lack of balance between parts of an economy, as between debits and credits in foreign trade.^[6]
3. In medicine, a lack of equilibrium in the body or in a gland; formerly, a faulty alignment of the eyes caused by their muscles.^[6][9]
4. An uneven ratio of males to females in a population.^[6]

Word family

• imbalanced

Related words

• balance
• unbalance

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin