disparity

English

Etymology

From Middle French disparité, from Latin disparitātem, accusative of disparitās, from dispār +‎ -tās, from dis- +‎ pār. By surface analysis, dis- +‎ parity.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈpæɹɪti/
• (General American, without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈpæɹɪti/
• (General American, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈpɛɹɪti/, [dɪsˈpɛɹɪɾi], /dɪsˈpeɹɪti/

  • Audio (Midwestern):

    (file)

• (General American, Mary–marry–merry merger, weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈpɛɹəti/, [dɪsˈpɛɹɾi], /dɪsˈpeɹəti/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈpæɹɪti/, [dɪsˈpæɹɪɾi]

Noun

disparity (countable and uncountable, plural disparities)

1. (uncountable) The state of being unequal; difference.
   • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 12.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 301:

     With no great disparity between them in point of years, they were, in every other respect, as unlike and far removed from each other as two men could well be. The one was soft-spoken, delicately made, precise, and elegant; the other, a burly square-built man, negligently dressed, rough and abrupt in manner, stern, and, in his present mood, forbidding both in look and speech.

   • 2020 April 8, David Clough, “How the West Coast wiring war was won”, in Rail, page 58:

     There was a disparity of view over the use of diesel or electric motive power for the route south of Crewe, and the Prime Minister even felt a modern design of steam locomotives would be the best solution.

2. (countable) Incongruity.

Synonyms

• unalikeness

Derived terms

• stereodisparity

Translations

the state of being unequal; difference

• Bulgarian: разлика (bg) f (razlika), неравенство (bg) n (neravenstvo)
• Catalan: disparitat f
• Dutch: ongelijkheid (nl), onevenredigheid
• Finnish: eroavuus (fi), erilaisuus (fi)
• French: disparité (fr) f
• German: Differenz (de) f, Unterschiedlichkeit f, Unterschied (de) m, Disparität (de) f, Ungleichheit (de) f
• Persian: نابرابری (fa) (nâ-barâbari)
• Polish: nierówność (pl) f, nierównowaga f, rozbieżność (pl) f, rozstrzał m, rozrzut m, różnica (pl) f
• Portuguese: disparidade (pt)
• Russian: нера́венство (ru) n (nerávenstvo), разли́чие (ru) n (razlíčije)
• Spanish: disparidad (es)
• Swedish: ojämlikhet (sv)
• Ukrainian: нері́вність f (nerívnistʹ), різни́ця (uk) f (riznýcja)
• Uzbek: tafovut (uz)

incongruity

• Bulgarian: несъответствие (bg) n (nesǎotvetstvie), несъразмерност (bg) f (nesǎrazmernost)
• German: Unvereinbarkeit (de) f, Ungleichheit (de) f
• Russian: несоотве́тствие (ru) n (nesootvétstvije), несоразме́рность (ru) f (nesorazmérnostʹ)
• Ukrainian: розбі́жність f (rozbížnistʹ), невідпові́дність f (nevidpovídnistʹ)

References

• “disparity”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “disparity”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.