Proportional

adj, noun

adj, noun ·4 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
A proportion. archaic
"It is almost superfluous to remark that the numbers attached to the elements of compounds are those of the proportionals in which they combine […]"
2
one of the quantities in a mathematical proportion wordnet

Adjective

1
At a constant ratio (to). Two magnitudes (numbers) are said to be proportional if the second varies in a direct relation arithmetically to the first. Symbol: ∝.
"A vacuum-controlled straight air brake system is fitted, in which the driver's vacuum brake valve applies the train brake and makes a proportional application of the locomotive air brake."
2
In proportion (to), proportionate. US
"This ensures consistency across your website design so that you don't end up with elements that are not adequately proportional with each other."
3
Of a typeface, having characters with natural (non-uniform) width (in contrast to monospace typefaces).
"A font is proportional if all characters in the font have different widths due to their various sizes."

Adjective

1
properly related in size or degree or other measurable characteristics; usually followed by ‘to’ wordnet
2
having a constant ratio wordnet

Synonyms

proportionate 3-d affinitive analogical analogous appertaining

Antonyms

Example

"The number of muffins that you'll receive will be inversely proportional to the number of times you talk on IRC."

Related phrases

directly proportional inversely proportional mean proportional mixed-member proportional proportional analogy proportional navigation proportional representation

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.