inequality

Noun

inequality (countable and uncountable, plural inequalities)

1. A condition or state (of social, cultural, or legal matters) that is not equal; especially, such a condition that is thereby also unfair.
   • The inequality in living standards led to a civil war as the have-nots rebelled.
   • The traditional inequalities of marriage, such as changing her surname to his.1976 February 14, A. Nolder Gay, “The View from the Closet”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 33, page 17

   Synonyms:

   unequality, unequalness, inequalness

   Antonyms:

   equality, equalness

2. A statement that of two quantities one is specifically less than (or greater than) another. Symbol: < or ≤ or > or ≥ or ne , as appropriate.
   • The inequality x is less than y, together with that ylt;z, allows us to deduce the inequality xlt;z.
   • 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.2015, Brandon Fogel, “Multideviations: The hidden structure of Bell's theorems”, in arXiv

   Synonyms:

   unequality, unequalness, inequalness, inequation

   Antonyms:

   equality, equalness

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

   Synonyms:

   unequality, unequalness, inequalness

   Antonyms:

   equality, equalness, evenness, regularity, smoothness