imbalance
Americannoun
-
the state or condition of lacking balance, as in proportion or distribution.
-
faulty muscular or glandular coordination.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of imbalance
Explanation
An imbalance occurs when you have too much of some things and too little of others. If you put so much pepper in your soup that you can't taste the other spices, then you caused an imbalance in your flavoring. It’s easy to remember the meaning of imbalance when you break the word into parts. You might recognize the prefix im- as a way to say “not.” Combine that with the familiar word balance, and you come up with something that is decidedly out of whack, or not balanced. It means that something is out of proportion, such as a trade imbalance between nations, meaning the amount of goods they sell to one another is not equal.
Vocabulary lists containing imbalance
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: in-, im-, il-, ir-
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That being said, they postulate that the raise stemmed in part from a supply-demand imbalance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
"I think it goes without saying that we have to address this imbalance, because it comes at the expense of our industry."
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
The removal of the border is therefore expected to have major economic benefits, facilitating the flow of people back and forth, and possibly going some way to redress the imbalance between the two territories.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
“Meaningful progress on affordability will still depend on expanding supply and addressing the structural imbalance between housing demand and availability,” he added.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026
This imbalance provoked criticism for its promotion of the belief that all chess players are seriously addled.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
For example, dehydration often causes a severe drop in blood pressure and imbalances in electrolytes like sodium and potassium.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026
They also said more research was needed to compare the method with other conditions that showed hormonal imbalances, so it was easier to identify endometriosis.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
Sefcovic will tell Wang the current imbalances are unsustainable for the EU before hosting the Chinese minister for a special dinner on Monday evening.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
In a previous comparison of the AI boom to the 1990s tech bubble, they saw no signs of the four main macro imbalances marking the end of the dot-com run.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
It is my own feeling that the most successful line of research will be that taken by the men studying enzyme imbalances.
From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
