Standard Lemma guide

disequilibrium

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: D IH0 S IY2 K W AH0 L IH1 B R IY0 AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The loss of equilibrium or stability, especially due to an imbalance of forces.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

loss of equilibrium attributable to an unstable situation in which some forces outweigh others

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: equilibrium

Broader terms: situation, state of affairs

Narrower terms: imbalance, instability, unbalance

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh1 Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des-bor. ▲ Latin dis-bor. Middle English dis- English dis- English equilibrium English disequilibrium From dis- + equilibrium.

Across languages

Translations

16 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Czech: nerovnováha — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Dutch: onevenwichtigheid — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Dutch: desequilibrium — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Dutch: labiliteit — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Dutch: wankelbaarheid — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • German: Ungleichgewicht — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Greek: ανισοσκελία (anisoskelía) — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Hindi: असंतुलन (asantulan) — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Irish: éagothromaíocht — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Italian: squilibrio — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Japanese: 不均衡 (fukinkō) — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Polish: nierównowaga — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Romanian: dezechilibru — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Romanian: instabilitate — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Romanian: dezechilibrare — the loss of equilibrium or stability
  • Spanish: desequilibrio — the loss of equilibrium or stability