Disproportionate vs. disproportional
Which is correct in which contexts?
"My head is disproportional to my body."
"My head is disproportionate to my body."
"My head is disproportional."
"My head is disproportionate."
I have the same question for "proportional/proportionate".
Google comes up with 24K results for disproportional vs disproportionate. Quite a battle seems to have been waged on at Berkeley four years ago (see Sources below).
Both words seem to have been in use from the 14th century. Despite the subtle differences in meaning, both seem to have been used quite interchangeably.
Based on the sources given below and based on the the three dictionaries that I just went through, it is safe to conclude as follows (at least in American English):
- Disproportionate is accepted more than disproportional
- Proportional is accepted more than proportionate
Cambridge Dictionary lists the following meanings:
Disproportionate (UK): too large or too small in comparison to something else , or not deserving its importance or influence
- There are a disproportionate number of girls in the class.
- The country's great influence in the world is disproportionate to its relatively small size.
Disproportionate (US): too great or too small when compared to something else - The sheer size of the company gave it disproportionate influence in dealing with the Pentagon and Congress. - disproportionately: adverb: Unemployment in Iowa is disproportionately high.
Proportional (UK): If two amounts are proportional, they change at the same rate so that the relationship between them does not change
Proportional (US): in correct relation to - The degree of punishment is meant to be proportional to the seriousness of the crime . Weight is proportional to size
Cambridge (online) dictionary does not have entries for disproportional and proportionate.
Sources (other than Dictionaries):
- Origin and differences of proportionate and proportional, and the meanings and popularity of disproportionate vs disproportional, are summarized at http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/08/the-right-proportions.html
- A simple comparison of proportional and proportionate at http://grammarist.com/usage/proportional-proportionate/
- A fairly heated battle on the topic at http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_easy;action=print;num=1282009365
- More votes for disproportionate: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130720150845AA3CiJJ
PS: Feel free to share your take and vote either way. If you down-vote, I request that you provide the rationale for it, along with credible sources, for the benefit of the ELU community.