uneven
/ʌnˈivən/
uneven adjective: of a surface, not even; covered with raised spots, pits and grooves.
Adjective
uneven (comparative more uneven, superlative most uneven)
- Of a surface, not even; covered with raised spots, pits and grooves.
- Synonyms:
- jagged
- Not level or smooth.
- Not uniform.
- I've spent hours on overcrowded trains, and time on ones which were almost empty, because the recovery [from COVID] has been uneven.2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 79
- Varying in quality.
- 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.2006 October 5, Leslie Feinberg, “Early left-wing liberation: 'Unity with all the oppressed'”, in Workers World
- Odd.
- Antonyms:
- even
Verb
uneven (third-person singular simple present unevens, present participle unevening, simple past and past participle unevened)
- To make uneven.
- Initially it nestled among the dozens of Indian mounds that unevened the earth near the river until they were leveled to accommodate commerce.1993, Travel Holiday, volume 176, page 56
- 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.2006, Jack Temple Kirby, Mockingbird Song: Ecological Landscapes of the South, page 128
uneven meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu
uneven in Hindi
- uneven
- परुष paruṣ, विषम viṣam
uneven in Tamil
- மேடுபள்ளமான, சரிசமமற்ற, திட்டுத்திட்டான, கட்டிகட்டியான
uneven in Urdu
- uneven
- پرش paruś
uneven in Telugu
- uneven, high and low, up and down
- నిమ్నోన్నతము nimnōnnatamu
More languagesFewer languages
- uneven in Malayalam
- അസമ, കുണ്ടുംകുഴിയുമുള്ള, പരുപരുത്ത, ചൊവ്വല്ലാത്ത
- uneven in Kannada
- ಕೊರಕಲು, ದುಂಟು, ಒಂದೇ ಮಟ್ಟವಾಗಿರದ, ಒಂದೇ ಕ್ರಮವಾಗಿರದ
- uneven in Gujarati
- ખડબચડું khaḍbacḍũ, ઊંચુંનીચું ū̃cũnīcũ
Examples of uneven in a sentence
- With his wrinkled, uneven face, the actor always seemed to play the heavy in films.
- Use a small brush to touch up the paint anywhere it is uneven.
- Being of an uneven temperament, he was free with his disfavours.
Synonyms of uneven
Antonyms
Forms of uneven
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more uneven |
| superlative | most uneven |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | unevens |
| present participle | unevening |
| past participle | unevened |
| past | unevened |
Origin of uneven
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”).
Words formed from uneven
Words that rhyme with uneven
Questions about uneven
- What does uneven mean?
- Uneven means of a surface, not even; covered with raised spots, pits and grooves.
- What is uneven in Hindi?
- Uneven in Hindi is परुष (paruṣ), विषम (viṣam). See Uneven meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is uneven?
- Uneven can be an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce uneven?
- Uneven is pronounced /ʌnˈivən/.
Words near uneven in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: uneven (page history and authors); परुष (Hindi) (page history and authors); uneven (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); پرش (Urdu) (page history and authors); నిమ్నోన్నతము (Telugu) (page history and authors); uneven (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); uneven (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ઊંચુંનીચું (Gujarati) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-uneven.wav.
Cite this entry: “uneven.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/uneven. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.