proportionate

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English proporcionate,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Medieval Latin prōportiōnātus (“proportioned, corresponding”),^[5][2] a past participle,^[2] formed on Latin prōportiō (“comparative relation, analogy”) with the suffix -ātus.^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged, Klein and the Shorter Oxford call the participle Late Latin.^[3][6][7] The Latin noun, the source of proportion, comes from the phrase prō portiōne (“according to the relation”).^[2] The verb is partly borrowed from Medieval Latin prōportiōnō, through its past participial stem, and partly a conversion of the adjective.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Adjusted in due proportion: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus,^[5] late 14th century in Etymonline.^[2] The OED notes that proportioned is slightly earlier.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word's main sense has stayed close to the Latin participle: fitted to something else by a set rate or relation.^[5][2] Etymonline adds that the classical spelling with -t- was restored in the 16th century.^[2] Several narrower uses died out by the late 17th century: "corresponding, analogous" (until 1612), a term of music for particular relations of duration or pitch (until 1614) and "fitting, appropriate" (1614–80).^[5] The verb arrived in the mid 16th century, first for setting the proportions of a thing and, after 1570, also for adjusting one thing in proportion to another.^[5][3] Johnson (1755) defined the adjective as "adjusted to something else, according to a certain rate or comparative relation", and quoted Grew for the contrast between an adequate and a proportionate connection of end and means.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1398 – adjective, in due proportion.^[5][2]
• before 1425 – corresponding, analogous (obsolete by 1612).^[5]
• before 1505 – in music, having particular relations of duration or pitch (obsolete by 1614).^[5]
• 1555 – verb, to set the proportions of; to shape.^[5]
• 1570 – verb, to make proportionate to something.^[5][3]
• 1590 – verb, to correspond to (obsolete by 1655).^[5]
• 1614 – fitting, appropriate (obsolete by 1680).^[5]
• 1637 – verb, to measure out in due proportion (obsolete by 1650).^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. In due proportion to something else; corresponding in size, amount or degree; proportional: a fine proportionate to the damage.^[3][9][10]

Verb

1. To make proportionate; to adjust or distribute in proportion: The council proportionated each grant to the size of the town.^[3][9][10]
2. To give due proportions to; to shape.^[3][5]

Word family

• proportionately
• proportionateness

Related words

• proportion
• proportional
• disproportionate
• portion

Usage notes

Webster's New World says that proportionate and proportional both imply due proportion, and that proportionate is usually preferred for two things in a reciprocal relationship.^[11] The adjective ends in /ət/ and the verb in /eɪt/.^[5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Webster's New World College Dictionary (2014), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt