imbalance
Americannoun
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the state or condition of lacking balance, as in proportion or distribution.
-
faulty muscular or glandular coordination.
noun
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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im-
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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.
"I can't really explain it because I'm not the committee. I'm not the one who decides," Grisebach told AFP on Friday when asked about the imbalance.
From Barron's • May 22, 2026
It sees the supply-demand imbalance continuing at least through the end of 2027.
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
Russia is acutely aware of the risks of this imbalance.
From BBC • May 18, 2026
‘There is an imbalance of power’: My husband has cancer.
From MarketWatch • May 4, 2026
Disease arose from an imbalance of these humors—too much of one, not enough of another.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
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.
