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Proportion   /prəpˈɔrʃən/   Listen
noun
Proportion  n.  
1.
The relation or adaptation of one portion to another, or to the whole, as respect magnitude, quantity, or degree; comparative relation; ratio; as, the proportion of the parts of a building, or of the body. "The image of Christ, made after his own proportion." "Formed in the best proportions of her sex." "Documents are authentic and facts are true precisely in proportion to the support which they afford to his theory."
2.
Harmonic relation between parts, or between different things of the same kind; symmetrical arrangement or adjustment; symmetry; as, to be out of proportion. "Let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith."
3.
The portion one receives when a whole is distributed by a rule or principle; equal or proper share; lot. "Let the women... do the same things in their proportions and capacities."
4.
A part considered comparatively; a share.
5.
(Math.)
(a)
The equality or similarity of ratios, especially of geometrical ratios; or a relation among quantities such that the quotient of the first divided by the second is equal to that of the third divided by the fourth; called also geometrical proportion, in distinction from arithmetical proportion, or that in which the difference of the first and second is equal to the difference of the third and fourth. Note: Proportion in the mathematical sense differs from ratio. Ratio is the relation of two quantities of the same kind, as the ratio of 5 to 10, or the ratio of 8 to 16. Proportion is the sameness or likeness of two such relations. Thus, 5 to 10 as 8 to 16; that is, 5 bears the same relation to 10 as 8 does to 16. Hence, such numbers are said to be in proportion. Proportion is expressed by symbols thus: a:b::c:d, or a:b = c:d, or a/b = c/d.
(b)
The rule of three, in arithmetic, in which the three given terms, together with the one sought, are proportional.
Continued proportion, Inverse proportion, etc. See under Continued, Inverse, etc.
Harmonical proportion or Musical proportion, a relation of three or four quantities, such that the first is to the last as the difference between the first two is to the difference between the last two; thus, 2, 3, 6, are in harmonical proportion; for 2 is to 6 as 1 to 3. Thus, 24, 16, 12, 9, are harmonical, for 24:9::8:3.
In proportion, according as; to the degree that. "In proportion as they are metaphysically true, they are morally and politically false."


verb
Proportion  v. t.  (past & past part. proportioned; pres. part. proportioning)  
1.
To adjust in a suitable proportion, as one thing or one part to another; as, to proportion the size of a building to its height; to proportion our expenditures to our income. "In the loss of an object we do not proportion our grief to the real value... but to the value our fancies set upon it."
2.
To form with symmetry or suitableness, as the parts of the body. "Nature had proportioned her without any fault."
3.
To divide into equal or just shares; to apportion.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Proportion" Quotes from Famous Books



... represented themselves as having been deceived with respect to the kind of labour to be exacted from them. But perhaps the greatest evil attendant on their introduction into the Mauritius was the small proportion of females imported with them, only about two hundred being brought with upward of ten thousand men. It was evident that unless the system of employing them were closely watched, there was a danger that it might ultimately grow into ...
— The trade, domestic and foreign • Henry Charles Carey
... he had been a major-general making an inspection. She was slim, supple; he liked slim, supple women. Her eyes, though none the less luminous, and her lips, though none the less flexible, did not seem quite as out of proportion with the rest of her face as formerly, now that it had taken on the contour of maturity, which was noticeable also in the lines of her figure. Yes, she was twenty-seven, with the vivacity of seventeen retained, though she were ...
— The Last Shot • Frederick Palmer
... by, and we set to work to build a cabin and lay in a stock of grub, which cost quite a good deal, for the self-raising flour which we bought was worth twenty cents a pound, and all kinds of hog meat fifty cents, with other supplies in proportion. Our new claims now paid very well. Snow came down to the depth of about four feet around our cabin, but as our work was under ground, we had ...
— Death Valley in '49 • William Lewis Manly
... field army consisted of six divisions and a brigade of cavalry and numbered, on paper at least, about 180,000 men. I very much doubt, however, if King Albert had in the field at anyone time more than 120,000 men—a very large proportion of whom were, of course, raw recruits. Now the Belgian army, when all is said and done, was not an army according to the Continental definition; it was not much more than a glorified police force, a militia. No one had ever dreamed that it would be called upon to fight, ...
— Fighting in Flanders • E. Alexander Powell
... thunder no more strongly in proportion. The grateful cowmen should throw at least another five thousand into ye editor's coffers. But, after all, what does it matter? A dozen newspapers couldn't make the case look any blacker for the Indians. If some hot-headed white man doesn't ...
— Mystery Ranch • Arthur Chapman


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