proportion definition

English proportion definition

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈpɔɹʃən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈpɔːʃən/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈpo(ː)ɹʃən/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈpoəʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)ʃən
• Hyphenation: pro‧por‧tion

Noun

proportion (countable and uncountable, plural proportions)

1. (countable) A quantity of something that is part of the whole amount or number.
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:

     “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, the worn-out, passionless men, the enervated matrons of the summer capital, […]!”

2. (uncountable) Harmonious relation of parts to each other or to the whole.
3. (countable) Proper or equal share.
   • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], OCLC 1203220866:

     Let the women […] do the same things in their proportions and capacities.

4. The relation of one part to another or to the whole with respect to magnitude, quantity, or degree.

   the proportion of the parts of a building, or of the body

   • 1563 March 30​, John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], OCLC 64451939:

     The image of Christ made in Pilate's time after his own proportion.

   • 1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], OCLC 230694662:

     Formed in the best proportions of her sex.

5. (mathematics, countable) A statement of equality between two ratios.
6. (mathematics, archaic) The "rule of three", in which three terms are given to find a fourth.
7. (countable, chiefly in the plural) Size.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:

     The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; […] . Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.

   • 2012 May 20, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992)”, in 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

Translations

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To divide into proper shares; to apportion.
   • 1960 April, “The braking of trains”, in Trains Illustrated, page 237:

     In order to proportion the braking force to the weight carried by a wheel - a matter of special importance in the braking of wagons - variable leverage systems are now being introduced in which the end of one axle spring is linked to a control spring in the change-over valve, so automatically varying the leverage exerted by the brake-rod according to whether the wagon is full or empty.

2. (transitive) To form symmetrically.
3. (transitive, art) To set or render in proportion.
4. (transitive, archaic) To correspond to.

Translations

Further reading

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

French proportion definition

Etymology

From Old French proportion, borrowed from Latin prōportiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.pɔʁ.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

proportion f (plural proportions)

1. proportion

Derived terms

References

• “proportion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.