lopsided

Etymology

It is formed from English lop + side + -ed,^[2][3][4] the verb lop meaning to droop or hang loosely;^[5][3][6] the OED takes the first part as either that verb or a noun lop.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Dictionary.com analyse it as lop and sided.^[7][8] The verb, recorded from the 1570s, is perhaps imitative, close in sense to lob,^[2] and Etymonline takes it as probably a variant of lob or of lap.^[5] In early use the adjective was also spelled lapsided,^[5] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged records the less common lobsided.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a ship, leaning to one side because it is heavier on that side: 1711, in W. Sutherland's Ship-builders Assistant.^[2][5][7]

Semantic evolution

First a nautical word, it was soon used of anything with one side lower or smaller than the other.^[2][5] A figurative use, for something unbalanced or disproportionate, is recorded from 1850, in C. Kingsley's Alton Locke;^[2] the American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also record it for a contest dominated by one side, such as a vote or a victory.^[9][7]

Timeline

• 1711 – of a ship, leaning to one side; heavier on one side.^[2][5][7]
• 1850 – figurative, unbalanced or disproportionate.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Heavier, larger or higher on one side than the other; leaning or sagging to one side: a lopsided grin.^[9][7][2]
2. Lacking balance or symmetry; disproportionate: a lopsided distribution of wealth.^[7][2]
3. Of a contest, won by a wide margin; dominated by one side: The home team won a lopsided game, 9–0.^[9][7]

Word family

• lopsidedly
• lopsidedness

Related words

• lop
• side

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt