PROPORTION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does proportion mean? 

• PROPORTION (noun)
  The noun PROPORTION has 5 senses:

1. the quotient obtained when the magnitude of a part is divided by the magnitude of the whole

2. magnitude or extent

3. balance among the parts of something

4. the relation between things (or parts of things) with respect to their comparative quantity, magnitude, or degree

5. harmonious arrangement or relation of parts or elements within a whole (as in a design)

  Familiarity information: PROPORTION used as a noun is common.

• PROPORTION (verb)
  The verb PROPORTION has 2 senses:

1. give pleasant proportions to

2. adjust in size relative to other things

  Familiarity information: PROPORTION used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROPORTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quotient obtained when the magnitude of a part is divided by the magnitude of the whole

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Hypernyms ("proportion" is a kind of...):

quotient (the ratio of two quantities to be divided)

Meronyms (parts of "proportion"):

proportional (one of the quantities in a mathematical proportion)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "proportion"):

case-fatality proportion (the number of cases of a disease ending in death divided by the number of cases of the disease; usually expressed as a percentage or as the number of deaths per 1000 cases)

case-to-infection proportion; case-to-infection ratio (the number of cases of a disease divided by the number of infections with the agent that causes the disease)

content (the proportion of a substance that is contained in a mixture or alloy etc.)

rate (a quantity or amount or measure considered as a proportion of another quantity or amount or measure)

scale (the ratio between the size of something and a representation of it)

golden mean; golden section (the proportional relation between two divisions of line or two dimension of a plane figure such that short : long :: long : (short + long))

pct; per centum; percent; percentage (a proportion in relation to a whole (which is usually the amount per hundred))

batting average ((an extension of the baseball term) the proportion of times some effort succeeds)

Derivation:

proportion (adjust in size relative to other things)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Magnitude or extent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

dimension; proportion

Context example:

a building of vast proportions

Hypernyms ("proportion" is a kind of...):

magnitude (the property of relative size or extent (whether large or small))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Balance among the parts of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

proportion; symmetry

Hypernyms ("proportion" is a kind of...):

balance; counterbalance; equilibrium; equipoise (equality of distribution)

Antonym:

disproportion (lack of proportion; imbalance among the parts of something)

Derivation:

proportion (give pleasant proportions to)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The relation between things (or parts of things) with respect to their comparative quantity, magnitude, or degree

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

proportion; ratio

Context example:

a dry martini has a large proportion of gin

Hypernyms ("proportion" is a kind of...):

magnitude relation; quantitative relation (a relation between magnitudes)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Harmonious arrangement or relation of parts or elements within a whole (as in a design)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

balance; proportion; proportionality

Context example:

in all perfectly beautiful objects there is found the opposition of one part to another and a reciprocal balance

Hypernyms ("proportion" is a kind of...):

arrangement; placement (the spatial property of the way in which something is placed)

Derivation:

proportion (give pleasant proportions to)

• PROPORTION (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they proportion    ... he / she / it proportions   
Past simple: proportioned   
Past participle: proportioned   
-ing form: proportioning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give pleasant proportions to

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

harmonize a building with those surrounding it

Hypernyms (to "proportion" is one way to...):

harmonise; harmonize (bring (several things) into consonance or relate harmoniously)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

proportion (harmonious arrangement or relation of parts or elements within a whole (as in a design))

proportion (balance among the parts of something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Adjust in size relative to other things

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "proportion" is one way to...):

adjust; correct; set (alter or regulate so as to achieve accuracy or conform to a standard)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "proportion"):

scale down (reduce proportionally)

scale up (increase proportionally)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

proportion (the quotient obtained when the magnitude of a part is divided by the magnitude of the whole)

 Context examples 

A unit of proportion equal to 10E-9.

(Part Per Billion, NCI Thesaurus)

A unit of proportion equal to 10E-6.

(Part Per Million, NCI Thesaurus)

NY-ESO-1 elicits a strong, integrated humoral and cellular immune response in a high proportion of patients with NY-ESO-1-expressing tumors and is under investigation as a cancer immunotherapy agent.

(NY-ESO-B, NCI Thesaurus)

The study of nutritional effects upon the size, weight, and proportions of the human body.

(Nutritional Anthropometry, NCI Thesaurus)

He made the cottage smaller than it need have been, by being so very much out of proportion to it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A unit of proportion equal to 10E-6 per volumic unit.

(Part per Million per Volume, NCI Thesaurus)

A unit of proportion equal to 10E-3.

(Part per Thousand, NCI Thesaurus)

"We have been able to show that water comes in with a certain oxygen concentration, and as it drops, the carbon goes down in direct proportion," he said.

(Microbes in underground aquifers beneath deep-sea Mid-Atlantic Ridge 'chow down' on carbon, National Science Foundation)

Its head is in proportion to its body, lean and unwrinkled.

(Boxer, NCI Thesaurus)

A unit of proportion equal to 10E-12.

(Part Per Trillion, NCI Thesaurus)