imbalanced

imbalanced — adjective

  • imbalancedpositive
  • more imbalancedcomparative
  • most imbalancedsuperlative

1. with parts, amounts, or forces that do not match each other properly, so the who

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

with parts, amounts, or forces that do not match each other properly, so the whole thing is out of equilibrium — for example a diet missing some food groups, a workload heavier for one person, or an economy that exports much less than it imports

Example

Astrid's diet was imbalanced because she ate mostly bread and almost no vegetables.

imbalanced + diet / nutritional context

The team's workload was imbalanced — Yumi handled twelve clients while Felix had only three.

collocation: imbalanced workload / distribution

Common collocations
  • imbalanced diet
  • imbalanced workload
  • imbalanced distribution
  • imbalanced trade
  • imbalanced ratio
  • imbalanced relationship
  • nutritionally imbalanced
Synonyms
  • unbalanced

    near-identical meaning and slightly more common; can also informally describe a person's mental state, which 'imbalanced' usually does not

  • uneven

    broader everyday word; covers both physical surfaces and unequal distribution

  • lopsided

    stresses one-sided heaviness or asymmetry, often with a visual or competitive feel

  • skewed

    suggests data, results, or perception have been pulled in one direction, often unfairly

Antonyms
  • balanced

    direct opposite — properly matched in parts, amounts, or forces

  • even

    equal across sides; common for distributions and surfaces

  • proportional

    each part matches the others in the right ratio

Usage Note

Subject is usually a system, distribution, diet, ratio, or relationship — not a person directly. Frequently appears either attributively (an imbalanced diet) or after linking verbs (become imbalanced, look imbalanced). Avoid using imbalanced to describe a person's mental state in everyday writing; it sounds clinical and slightly outdated, and 'unbalanced' is the form more often used that way.

Common Mistakes

My friend is imbalanced because she is always angry.
My friend's emotions seem unstable lately.
'imbalanced' describes systems or distributions, not a person's temperament; for a person, prefer 'unstable' or describe the specific behaviour.
The two sides of the argument were imbalance.
The two sides of the argument were imbalanced.
'imbalance' is the noun; the adjective always ends in -ed.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Unbalanced is the most common form and overlaps with imbalanced for diets, distributions, and systems, but unbalanced also reaches into informal talk about a person's mental state ('he seemed mentally unbalanced'), where imbalanced sounds clinical and is usually avoided. Uneven is broader and more everyday: it covers both physical surfaces (an uneven floor) and unequal distribution (uneven workload), without the technical or formal flavour that imbalanced carries. Lopsided emphasises visible one-sidedness — a lopsided score, a lopsided cake, a lopsided argument where one side dominates. Skewed says results, data, or perception have been pulled toward one direction, often unfairly ('the survey results were skewed by a small sample'). Use imbalanced when writing about diets, economies, ratios, and training programmes; use unbalanced or uneven in informal speech.

unbalanced ↗uneven ↗lopsided ↗skewed ↗

Common collocations

Adverbs

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Imbalanced was formed in English by adding the prefix im- (meaning 'not', a form of in- used before b, m, and p) to the adjective balanced. The verb balance comes from Old French balance, from late Latin bilancia, built from bi- ('two') and lanx ('plate' or 'scale-pan'), referring to a two-plate weighing scale. So imbalanced literally pictures two scale-pans that fail to settle level. The form has been in use since the 1800s alongside the older and slightly more common 'unbalanced.'