proportion

English

Etymology

From Middle English proporcion, from Old French proportion, from Latin proportio (“comparative relation, proportion, symmetry, analogy”), from pro (“for, before”) + portio (“share, part”); see portion.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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Noun

proportion (countable and uncountable; plural proportions)

1. (countable) A quantity of something that is part of the whole amount or number.
   • 1907, Robert Chambers, chapter 6, The Younger Set^[1]:

     “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, … !”

2. (uncountable) Harmonious relation of parts to each other or to the whole.
3. (countable) Proper or equal share.
4. (uncountable) The relation of one part to another or to the whole with respect to magnitude, quantity, or degree.
5. (mathematics, countable) A statement of equality between two ratios.
6. (countable, chiefly plural) size
   • 2012 May 20, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992)”, The Onion AV Club:

     What other television show would feature a gorgeously designed sequence where a horrifically mutated Pierre and Marie Curie, their bodies swollen to Godzilla-like proportions from prolonged exposure to the radiation that would eventually kill them, destroy an Asian city with their bare hands like vengeance-crazed monster-Gods?

Derived terms

• in proportion
• proportional
• proportionally
• proportionate
• proportioner

Translations

Translations

• Catalan: proporció f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 比例 (cmn) (bǐlì)

• Czech: poměr (cs)
• Esperanto: proporcio (eo)
• Finnish: osa (fi), osuus (fi), suhde (fi)
• French: proportion (fr) f
• German: Proportion (de) f

• Interlingua: proportion
• Japanese: 割合 (ja) (わりあい, wariai), 比例 (ja) (ひれい, hirei)
• Portuguese: proporção f
• Russian: пропорция (ru) (propórcija) f 
• Spanish: proporción (es) f
• Turkish: orantı (tr)
• Vietnamese: tỉ lệ (vi)

Verb

proportion (third-person singular simple present proportions, present participle proportioning, simple past and past participle proportioned)

1. (art) To set or render in proportion.

External links

• proportion in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• proportion in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911