Unequal

//ʌnˈiːkwəl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1
One who is not an equal.

Adjective

1
Not the same.
2
Out of balance.
3
Inadequate; insufficiently capable or qualified. comparable
"unequal to the task"
4
Erratic, inconsistent.
"Her manner to Francesca was very unequal. Sometimes it had all the frankness of their early intimacy; at other times it was forbidding, and even petulant."

Adjective

1
lacking the requisite qualities or resources to meet a task wordnet
2
poorly balanced or matched in quantity or value or measure wordnet

Synonyms

inadequate mismatched unbalanced unsymmetrical assorted asymmetric

Antonyms

fair same equal

Example

"I must excuse myself from the task, because I am unequal to it."

Etymology

From Middle English unequale, equivalent to un- + equal. Compare German unegal (“unlevel, uneven”).

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