disparate
UK/ˈdɪsp(ə)ɹət//ˈdɪsp(ə)ɹət/
disparate adjective: composed of inherently different or distinct elements; incongruous.
Adjective
disparate (comparative more disparate, superlative most disparate)
- Composed of inherently different or distinct elements; incongruous.
- The board of the company was decidedly disparate, with no two members from the same social or economic background.
- The London Transport Museum was established, from disparate collections, at Covent Garden in 1980.2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 269
- Synonyms:
- incongruous, mismatched, uncoordinated
- Essentially different; of different species, unlike but not opposed in pairs.
- Synonyms:
- different, dissimilar, unalike
- Utterly unlike; incapable of being compared; having no common ground.
- Then disparate sense impressions come to disparate organs, as light to the eye, taste to the mouth, etc.1898, John Wesley Powell, Truth and Error
- M. Bergson’s philosophy, unlike most of the systems of the past, is dualistic: the world, for him, is divided into two disparate portions, on the one hand life, on the other matter, or rather that inert something which the intellect views as matter.1912, Bertrand Russell, The Philosophy of Bergson
- Synonyms:
- incommensurable
Noun
disparate (plural disparates)
- Any of a group of unequal or dissimilar things.
disparate meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
disparate in Tamil
- முற்றிலும் வேறான
disparate in Urdu
- مختلف, غیرمساوی, نابرابر
disparate in Bengali
- সম্পূর্ণ পৃথক, বিসদৃশ
disparate in Malayalam
- different, contrasting, differing
- വെെജാത്യമുള്ള, താരത്യപ്പെടുത്താനാവാത്തവിധം വ്യത്യസ്തമായ, അസദൃശ, വേറിട്ട, വെെരുദ്ധ്യമുള്ള, വെവ്വേറെയായ
More languagesFewer languages
- disparate in Kannada
- ಹೋಲಿಸಲಾಗದ, ವಿದೃಶ, ಭಿನ್ನಜಾತಿಯ, ಬೇರೆ ತರದ
Examples of disparate in a sentence
- There is some sign of disparate standards bodies becoming more closely aligned.
- The goal of this interconfessional endeavour is to bring harmony and understanding between these disparate churches.
- The work will, for now, continue in a different, disparate form.
Synonyms of disparate
Forms of disparate
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more disparate |
| superlative | most disparate |
| Noun | |
| plural | disparates |
Origin of disparate
First attested in 1586; either borrowed from Middle French desparat or directly from Latin disparātus, perfect passive participle of disparō (“to divide”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix)), from dis- (“apart”) + parō (“to arrange”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”) and the root *per- (“carry forth”).
Words formed from disparate
Questions about disparate
- What does disparate mean?
- Disparate means composed of inherently different or distinct elements; incongruous.
- What is disparate in Tamil?
- Disparate in Tamil is முற்றிலும் வேறான. See Disparate meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is disparate?
- Disparate can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce disparate?
- Disparate is pronounced /ˈdɪsp(ə)ɹət/ (UK).
Words near disparate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: disparate (page history and authors); disparate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); disparate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); disparate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); disparate (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); disparate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-disparate-2.ogg.
Cite this entry: “disparate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/disparate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.