unbalance

«unbalance» in Mova's school dictionary: to make it lose its balance, so it tips or wobbles — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (unbalance, unbalances, unbalanced, unbalancing); noun (unbalance — uncountable, rare)

meaning for a pupil

1) To unbalance something is to make it lose its balance, so it tips or wobbles. tree →

2) To unbalance a situation is to make it unfair or uneven, such as giving one team many more good players. tree →

3) (older use) To unbalance a person is to upset them so much that they cannot think clearly. tree →

4) (noun, rare) Unbalance is a lack of balance; «imbalance» is the usual word. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science and PE: weight on one side can unbalance a seesaw or a gymnast. In maths, an equation is like a balance – adding to one side only unbalances it. In fairness talk: big differences can unbalance a game or a diet. Adjective «unbalanced» is common: «an unbalanced diet».

examples

• A big wave unbalanced the boat. tree →
• Don't lean too far or you'll unbalance the ladder. tree →
• Putting all the tall children on one team would unbalance the game. tree →
• If you add 3 to only one side, you unbalance the equation. tree →
• The heavy bag unbalanced my bike. tree →
• Eating only sweets gives you an unbalanced diet. tree →

note

Regular verb. The noun usually used is «imbalance», not «unbalance». In maths, keep an equation balanced by doing the same thing to both sides. Calling a person «unbalanced» (mentally) is unkind and old-fashioned.

In the corpora

• When one force is bigger, the forces are unbalanced and the object speeds up, slows down or changes direction.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «unbalance» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.