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
Derived 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.
A lopsided rally has left the market dangerously dependent on hot tech and AI-linked names.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 2, 2026
“One thing we can say with certainty is that we are back to a lopsided ‘bad breadth’ market,” writes Rosenberg Research’s David Rosenberg.
From Barron's • May 29, 2026
The UK is a long, thin country that excels in the service sector, and connecting these sources of growth would lever in investment and create agglomeration effects that would help rebalance Britain's lopsided economy,
From BBC • May 19, 2026
The country’s export machine continues to hum but its economic growth has become increasingly lopsided.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
She smiles, lopsided and knowing, and disappears into the kitchen again.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
