inequality

English

Alternative forms

• inæquality (archaic, rare)

Etymology

From Middle English inequalite, from Old French inequalité, from Medieval Latin inaequālitās, from Latin inaequālis (“unequal”), from in- (“not”) + aequālis (“equal”).

Morphologically inequal +‎ -ity and in- +‎ equality.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĭnĭkwŏl'ĭtē, IPA^(key): /ˌɪn.ɪˈkwɒl.ɪ.ti/

  • Audio (London):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: ĭn-ĭʹkwŏ-lĭ-tē IPA^(key): /ˌɪn.ɪˈkwɑ.lɪ.ti/, [ˌɪn.ɪˈkwɑ.lɪ.ɾi]

Noun

inequality (countable and uncountable, plural inequalities)

1. An unfair, not equal, state.

   The inequality in living standards led to a civil war as the have nots rebelled.

   • 1976 February 14, A. Nolder Gay, “The View from the Closet”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 33, page 17:

     The traditional inequalities of marriage, such as changing her surname to his.

   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[1], volume 188, number 23, page 19:

     In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […]   The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra–wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.

   • 2025 July 9, Oliver Wheeler, “Action stations...”, in RAIL, number 1039, page 68:

     With the growing awareness of climate change, congestion, and regional inequality, rail transport has re-emerged as a solution.

2. (mathematics) A statement that of two quantities one is specifically less than (or greater than) another. Symbol: $<$ or $\leq$ or $>$ or $\geq$ or $\neq$, as appropriate.

   The inequality $x$ is less than $y$, together with that $y<z$, allows us to deduce the inequality $x<z$.

   • 2015, Brandon Fogel, “Multideviations: The hidden structure of Bell's theorems”, in arXiv‎^[2]:

     I then specify a set of new tight Bell inequalities for arbitrary event spaces -- the "even/odd" inequalities -- which have a straightforward interpretation when expressed in terms of multideviations.

3. unevenness, irregularity
   • 1881, Charles Darwin, The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, page 313:

     When we behold a wide, turf-covered expanse, we should remember that its smoothness, upon which so much of its beauty depends, is mainly due to all the inequalities having been levelled by worms.

Synonyms

• (statement in mathematics): inequation

Hyponyms

• Bhatia-Davis inequality
• Cauchy-Schwarz inequality
• Chebyshev's inequality
• CHSH inequality
• Jensen's inequality
• marriage inequality
• Minkowski inequality
• periodic inequality
• Popoviciu's inequality
• Schwarz inequality
• triangle inequality
• von Neumann's inequality

Translations

unfair, not equal, state

• Arabic: عَدَم مُسَاوَاة m (ʕadam musāwāh)
• Asturian: desigualdá f
• Azerbaijani: qeyri-bərabərlik, bərabərsizlik
• Belarusian: няро́ўнасць f (njarównascʹ)
• Bulgarian: нера́венство (bg) n (nerávenstvo)
• Catalan: desigualtat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不平等 (zh) (bùpíngděng)

• Czech: nerovnost f
• Danish: ulighed c
• Dutch: ongelijkheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: malegaleco
• Finnish: epätasa-arvo (fi), eriarvoisuus (fi)
• French: inégalité (fr) f
• Galician: desigualdade (gl) f
• Georgian: უთანასწორობა (utanasc̣oroba), უთანაბრობა (utanabroba), არათანასწორობა (aratanasc̣oroba)
• German: Ungleichheit (de) f
• Greek: ανισότητα (el) f (anisótita)

  Ancient: ἀνισότης f (anisótēs)

• Hindi: असमानता (hi) f (asamāntā)
• Indonesian: ketimpangan (id)
• Japanese: 不平等 (ja) (ふびょうどう, fubyōdō)
• Korean: 불평등 (ko) (bulpyeongdeung)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: newekhevî (ku) f, neyeksanî (ku)

• Latin: inīquitās f
• Macedonian: нееднаквост f (neednakvost)
• Malay: ketidaksamaan, ketaksamaan (ms)
• Occitan: inegalitat (oc) f
• Persian: نابرابری (fa) (nâbarâbari)
• Polish: nierówność (pl) f
• Portuguese: desigualdade (pt)
• Romanian: inegalitate (ro)
• Russian: нера́венство (ru) n (nerávenstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: неједна́ко̄ст f

  Roman: nejednákōst (sh) f

• Slovak: nerovnosť f
• Slovene: neenakost f
• Spanish: desigualdad (es) f
• Swedish: ojämlikhet (sv) c
• Ukrainian: нері́вність f (nerívnistʹ)
• Urdu: غیر یکسانیت (ġer eksānet), نابرابری
• Welsh: anghydraddoldeb m

statement that one quantity is less (or greater) than another

• Azerbaijani: bərabərsizlik
• Belarusian: няро́ўнасць f (njarównascʹ)
• Bulgarian: нера́венство (bg) n (nerávenstvo)
• Catalan: desigualtat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不等式 (zh) (bùděngshì)

• Czech: nerovnice f
• Danish: ulighed c
• Dutch: ongelijkheid (nl)
• Finnish: epäyhtälö (fi)
• French: inéquation (fr) f
• Georgian: უტოლობა (uṭoloba)
• German: Ungleichung (de) f
• Greek: ανισότητα (el) f (anisótita)
• Hindi: असमिका f (asmikā)
• Icelandic: ójafna f
• Indonesian: pertidaksamaan
• Italian: disequazione (it) f disuguaglianza (it) f
• Japanese: 不等式 (ja) (ふとうしき, futōshiki)
• Kazakh: теңсіздік (teñsızdık)
• Korean: 부등식 (ko) (budeungsik)
• Malay: ketaksamaan (ms)
• Polish: nierówność (pl) f
• Portuguese: inequação (pt) f, desigualdade (pt) f
• Romanian: inecuație (ro) f
• Russian: нера́венство (ru) n (nerávenstvo)
• Spanish: inecuación f, desigualdad (es) f
• Swedish: olikhet (sv) c
• Ukrainian: нері́вність f (nerívnistʹ)
• Vietnamese: bất đẳng thức (vi)

See also

• ≠
• Thesaurus:inequality