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.
"Maternal Thyroid Hormone Imbalance and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder," was published online, ahead of print.
From Science Daily • Nov. 29, 2025
On Tuesday, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he had just met with "high level Representatives of Switzerland" and had discussed "many subjects including, and most importantly, Trade and Trade Imbalance".
From Barron's • Nov. 5, 2025
It all comes down to a statistic known as EEI, or Energy Earth Imbalance, that measures the difference between the solar energy that reaches Earth and the amount which returns to space.
From Salon • Mar. 8, 2024
Imbalance had long riled Nissan executives who complained Renault did not pay its fair share of costs for innovation and development.
From Reuters • Apr. 14, 2023
The California Independent System Operator says its Energy Imbalance Market has saved participants more than $500 million and avoided 314,000 metric tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions since it launched in 2014.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 28, 2018
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.
