imbalance
Americannoun
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imbalances
plural
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the state or condition of lacking balance, as in proportion or distribution.
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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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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.
See Examples For:
In a note to clients on Monday, TD Cowen analysts led by John Blackledge called that business the “biggest near-term driver” of revenue for the company, citing the AI industry’s major supply-and-demand imbalance.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
At the end, you know, and I don’t know when it started, why it started, what happened, and it just seemed that there was an imbalance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
"The domestic imbalance between strong supply and weak demand remains pronounced, some firms face operational difficulties and the foundation for steady economic improvement requires consolidation," it said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
There is also a large trade imbalance, with a deficit tilting heavily in China's favour.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
The jets flew over the burial cortège in a tight formation that had an odd imbalance to it.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
IMF boss Kristalina Georgieva said in Bangkok on Wednesday that China's growth model must "shift from export more towards domestic consumption" in order to address global imbalances.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
Bessent urged Wednesday for the IMF to strengthen its "analysis and engagement on the role non-market policies and practices and exchange rates play in driving external imbalances."
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
That in itself created imbalances — refiners shifted to diesel “perhaps a little bit too early,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Their varied diets should also buffer them from imbalances in prey populations.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
But later, after my mother lost her faith in God, that leatherette Bible wound up wedged under a too-short table leg, a way for her to correct the imbalances of life.
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
