disproportion.

A difference in size, amount, or importance that is out of balance.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• disproportion between costs and benefits
• striking disproportion

On the page

The disproportion between the penalty and the offence troubled the reviewer.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Countable or uncountable by context; countable singular disproportion; plural disproportions. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: comparison. Commonness: moderately common.