uneven

Etymology

From Middle English uneven, from Old English unefen (“unequal, unlike, dissimilar, diverse, irregular”), equivalent to un- +‎ even. Cognate with Dutch oneven (“unequal, uneven, odd”), German uneben (“uneven, rough, irregular, bumpy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈivən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːvən

Adjective

uneven (comparative more uneven, superlative most uneven)

1. Not even
2. Not level or smooth
3. Not uniform
   • 2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 79:

     I've spent hours on overcrowded trains, and time on ones which were almost empty, because the recovery [from COVID] has been uneven.

4. Varying in quality
   • 2006 October 5, Leslie Feinberg, “Early left-wing liberation: 'Unity with all the oppressed'”, in Workers World‎:

     Even white activists who lacked a thoroughgoing anti-racist consciousness or were uneven in their understanding saw unity in the struggle against all forms of oppression as key.

5. (mathematics, rare) Odd

   Antonym: even

Verb

uneven (third-person singular simple present unevens, present participle unevening, simple past and past participle unevened)

1. (transitive) To make uneven.
   • 1993, Travel Holiday, volume 176, page 56:

     Initially it nestled among the dozens of Indian mounds that unevened the earth near the river until they were leveled to accommodate commerce.

   • 2006, Jack Temple Kirby, Mockingbird Song: Ecological Landscapes of the South, page 128:

     First, of course, the war reduced the white male, mostly young adult, population by more than a quarter-million, unevening the sex ratio and connubial and other opportunities for women for perhaps a generation.