proportionally

American  

[pruh-pawr-shuh-nuhl-ee] / prəˈpɔr ʃə nəl i /

adverb

1. in a way or to an extent that maintains proportion relative to something else.

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Explanation

Use the adverb proportionally when you're comparing the size or amount of one thing to another. If there’s a park on every block where you live, your town has proportionally more public parks than the average town of its size. The US Congress is proportionally representative, so states with more people get more representatives. In other words, each state gets a number of representatives that corresponds to its population. The adverb proportionally comes from its related adjective, proportional and noun proportion. Both words have a Latin root, proportionem, which means "comparative relation or analogy" and stems from the phrase pro portione, or "according to the relation of parts to each other."

Example Sentences

Men have only been fully allowed to work as midwives since 1982 and proportionally very few have taken up the opportunity.

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026

Because of these differences, many couples in your situation choose other options like dividing expenses proportionally based on income or contributing to a joint household account to cover costs.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 2, 2026

“People tend to repay a credit card,” the authors say, “by allocating their debt repayments proportionally to the relative sizes of their balances.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025

In rural regions, stoves play a proportionally larger role in overall nitrogen dioxide exposure.

From Science Daily • Dec. 3, 2025

The Obsidian Kings end up winning, and the tally over the White Sharks disappears, divided and paid proportionally among the winning gamblers.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu