uneven
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English uneven, from Old English unefen (“unequal, unlike, dissimilar, diverse, irregular”), equivalent to un- + even. Cognate with Dutch oneven (“unequal, uneven, odd”), German uneben (“uneven, rough, irregular, bumpy”).
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
uneven (comparative more uneven, superlative most uneven)
- Not even
- Not level or smooth
- Not uniform
- 2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 79:
- I've spent hours on overcrowded trains, and time on ones which were almost empty, because the recovery [from COVID] has been uneven.
- Varying in quality
- (mathematics, rare) Odd
- Antonym: even
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
not even
|
not level or smooth
|
not uniform
|
varying in quality
|
odd — see odd
See alsoEdit
VerbEdit
uneven (third-person singular simple present unevens, present participle unevening, simple past and past participle unevened)
- (transitive) To make uneven.
- 1993, Travel Holiday (volume 176, page 56)
- Initially it nestled among the dozens of Indian mounds that unevened the earth near the river until they were leveled to accommodate commerce.
- 2006, Jack Temple Kirby, Mockingbird Song: Ecological Landscapes of the South (page 128)
- First, of course, the war reduced the white male, mostly young adult, population by more than a quarter-million, unevening the sex ratio and connubial and other opportunities for women for perhaps a generation.
- 1993, Travel Holiday (volume 176, page 56)