Wiktionary

uneven

English

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Etymology

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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”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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uneven (comparative more uneven, superlative most uneven)

  1. Not even
  2. Not level or smooth
  3. 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.
  4. Varying in quality
    • 2006 October 5, Leslie Feinberg, “Early left-wing liberation: 'Unity with all the oppressed'”, in Workers World‎[1]:
      Even white activists who lacked a thoroughgoing anti-racist consciousness or were uneven in their understanding saw unity in the struggle against all forms of oppression as key.
  5. (mathematics, rare) Odd
    Antonym: even

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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odd — see odd

See also

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Verb

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uneven (third-person singular simple present unevens, present participle unevening, simple past and past participle unevened)

  1. (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.
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