adjective
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leaning or inclined to one side
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greater in weight, height, or size on one side
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lopsided
Explanation
Something that's lopsided is crooked or off-balance, like your grandma's lopsided hat, which sits askew on her head. You can use the adjective lopsided to describe things that are crooked or asymmetrical. A bad toothache might cause one side of your jaw to swell, leaving your face feeling — and looking — lopsided. You might say that your school's student council election is lopsided if one candidate is clearly more qualified than the other. The word lopsided was originally lapsided, and in the early 1700s it almost always referred to a tilting ship.
Vocabulary lists containing lopsided
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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.
Another industry where executive trading has been lopsided is energy, recently boosted by rising oil prices stemming from the war with Iran.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Denver is a better team than it looked in that lopsided loss to Kansas City.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
But the balance is lopsided, with Chinese exports accounting for 75 percent of that.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Our first reaction was that the lack of a lopsided verdict meant that El-Sayed would have to work that much harder to bring the party together.
From Slate ● Aug. 8, 2026
Without even a glance my way, he hunkered into a lopsided crouch, rear haunches raised, head down.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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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.
