Library / English Dictionary

PROPORTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Harmonious arrangement or relation of parts or elements within a whole (as in a design)

Example:

in all perfectly beautiful objects there is found the opposition of one part to another and a reciprocal balance

Synonyms:

balance; proportion; proportionality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("proportion" is a kind of...):

arrangement; placement (the spatial property of the way in which something is placed)

Derivation:

proportion (give pleasant proportions to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Magnitude or extent

Example:

a building of vast proportions

Synonyms:

dimension; proportion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("proportion" is a kind of...):

magnitude (the property of relative size or extent (whether large or small))

Sense 3

Meaning:

The relation between things (or parts of things) with respect to their comparative quantity, magnitude, or degree

Example:

a dry martini has a large proportion of gin

Synonyms:

proportion; ratio

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Hypernyms ("proportion" is a kind of...):

magnitude relation; quantitative relation (a relation between magnitudes)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The quotient obtained when the magnitude of a part is divided by the magnitude of the whole

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Hypernyms ("proportion" is a kind of...):

quotient (the ratio of two quantities to be divided)

Meronyms (parts of "proportion"):

proportional (one of the quantities in a mathematical proportion)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "proportion"):

case-fatality proportion (the number of cases of a disease ending in death divided by the number of cases of the disease; usually expressed as a percentage or as the number of deaths per 1000 cases)

case-to-infection proportion; case-to-infection ratio (the number of cases of a disease divided by the number of infections with the agent that causes the disease)

content (the proportion of a substance that is contained in a mixture or alloy etc.)

rate (a quantity or amount or measure considered as a proportion of another quantity or amount or measure)

scale (the ratio between the size of something and a representation of it)

golden mean; golden section (the proportional relation between two divisions of line or two dimension of a plane figure such that short : long :: long : (short + long))

pct; per centum; percent; percentage (a proportion in relation to a whole (which is usually the amount per hundred))

batting average ((an extension of the baseball term) the proportion of times some effort succeeds)

Derivation:

proportion (adjust in size relative to other things)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Balance among the parts of something

Synonyms:

proportion; symmetry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("proportion" is a kind of...):

balance; counterbalance; equilibrium; equipoise (equality of distribution)

Antonym:

disproportion (lack of proportion; imbalance among the parts of something)

Derivation:

proportion (give pleasant proportions to)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Adjust in size relative to other things

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "proportion" is one way to...):

adjust; correct; set (alter or regulate so as to achieve accuracy or conform to a standard)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "proportion"):

scale down (reduce proportionally)

scale up (increase proportionally)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

proportion (the quotient obtained when the magnitude of a part is divided by the magnitude of the whole)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give pleasant proportions to

Example:

harmonize a building with those surrounding it

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "proportion" is one way to...):

harmonise; harmonize (bring (several things) into consonance or relate harmoniously)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

proportion (harmonious arrangement or relation of parts or elements within a whole (as in a design))

proportion (balance among the parts of something)

Credits

 Context examples: 

You've lost your sense of proportion.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The proportion of CD4+ T cells with high levels of alpha-4 beta-7 strongly affected how quickly HIV damaged the immune system.

(Study links gut-homing protein levels with HIV infection risk, disease progression, National Institutes of Health)

The great breast and heavy fore legs were no more than in proportion with the rest of the body, where the muscles showed in tight rolls underneath the skin.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

A series of float values each of which represents proportion of variance for each principal component.

(Eigenvalue, NCI Thesaurus)

The relative proportion of subjects to be randomized to the arm.

(Arm Randomization Weight, NCI Thesaurus)

Copy number variants account for a significant proportion of the genetic variation between individuals.

(Copy Number Polymorphism, NCI Dictionary)

The other vegetables are in the same proportion; but this I leave to the reader’s imagination.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

A unit of measurement for the proportion of gold in an alloy, defining the purity of gold.

(Carat of Gold Alloy, NCI Thesaurus)

The Akita is a powerful, solid, well-proportioned and distinctive looking dog.

(Akita, NCI Thesaurus)

It is well proportioned and very strong.

(German Shepherd Dog, NCI Thesaurus)