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:
Money doesn’t always win an election, but a big funding imbalance is tough to overcome, Schnur said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
This imbalance, known as matter and antimatter asymmetry, is essential to understanding our existence.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 1, 2026
Thill said he anticipates that the company could announce even higher spending levels in 2027, given the severe supply-demand imbalance for compute.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 17, 2026
The latest figures come amid mounting trade friction with the European Union, which has pressed Beijing to address a widening trade imbalance and flagged concerns over competition from Chinese manufacturers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
This imbalance provoked criticism for its promotion of the belief that all chess players are seriously addled.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
The politician told MPs on Thursday that he was not "sufficiently alert" to the power imbalances between him and his employee.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 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
Institutions must examine the cultures and power structures in which hazing flourishes, including secrecy, expectations of unquestioned loyalty, power imbalances and norms that discourage intervention and reporting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Similar microbial imbalances, often called microbiome dysbiosis, occur elsewhere in the body and have been associated with a range of health problems, including certain types of cancer.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 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.
