unbalanced

«unbalanced» in Mova's school dictionary: not steady, likely to tip or fall because the weight is… — 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

adjective (unbalanced)

meaning for a pupil

1) Unbalanced means not steady, likely to tip or fall because the weight is not spread evenly. tree →

2) An unbalanced diet or report has too much of some things and not enough of others; it is not fair or even. tree →

3) (old, unkind) Unbalanced can describe a person who is mentally unwell — avoid this use. tree →

4) (maths, science) An unbalanced equation or set of forces is not equal on both sides. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons, unbalanced forces make things start moving, speed up or change direction; balanced forces keep them steady. In maths, the two sides of an equation must balance. In health lessons, an unbalanced diet is not healthy. Phrases: unbalanced forces, an unbalanced diet, unbalanced teams.

examples

• The tower was unbalanced and fell over. tree →
• Eating only chips is an unbalanced diet. tree →
• The teams are unbalanced: one has 8 players and the other 5. tree →
• Unbalanced forces make the ball move. tree →
• The scale is unbalanced because one side is heavier. tree →
• If one side of an equation is 10 and the other is 12, it is unbalanced. tree →

note

«Un-» + «balanced». Opposite: balanced. Using «unbalanced» about a person's mind is old and can be hurtful; say «unwell» instead. In maths, to fix unbalanced teams, move players: 8 and 5 → 13 ÷ 2 is not whole, so they can't be exactly equal.

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 «unbalanced» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.