Sample sentences for PROPORTION

4 meanings

(click/touch triangles for details)

1 —as in:
the proportion of oil to vinegar

Definition

a ratio (the quantity of something in relation to something else)

To make popcorn on the stove, the proportion of oil to unpopped popcorn is about 1 tablespoon oil per 1/4 cup of popcorn.

proportion = ratio (the quantity of something in relation to something else)

Other Uses (with this meaning)

The proportion of women to men at my college is about 6 to 4.

proportion = ratio (the quantity of something in relation to something else)

The recommended proportion of bleach to water is different for sanitizing a kitchen counter than it is for disinfecting a toilet.

proportion = ratio (the quantity of something in relation to something else)

I stammered nervously as I introduced him to Mother, who was blending bergamot and ylang-ylang, clicking her fingers to test the proportions.
Tara Westover -- Educated

proportions = relative amounts (of things that go together)

Disorientated, Redd's imaginings fizzled and faded, less and less of a threat to Alyss, whose abilities seemed to be increasing in direct proportion to her confidence.
Frank Beddor -- The Looking Glass Wars

proportion = relative amount

My loyalty to my father had increased in proportion to the miles between us.
Tara Westover -- Educated

proportion = relative amount

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

2 —as in:
the proportion who are female

Definition

a portion or part of something — usually a count or quantity compared to the whole

The country's population density is low; though a large proportion of the population is packed into a few major cities.

proportion = portion or percentage

Other Uses (with this meaning)

The proportion of Wikipedia edits made by North Americans is higher for the English Wikipedia than it is for the Simple English Wikipedia.

proportion = portion or percentage

While only 10% of the general population is left-handed, the proportion of left-handed MLB players is closer to 39%.

proportion = portion or percentage

The proportion of men caught cheating was higher than that of women.

proportion = portion or percentage

My duties towards the beings of my own species had greater claims to my attention because they included a greater proportion of happiness or misery.
Mary Shelley -- Frankenstein

proportion = portion or share

Maycomb's proportion of professional people ran high: one went there to have his teeth pulled, his wagon fixed, his heart listened to, his money deposited, his soul saved, his mules vetted.
Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird

proportion = share or percentage

It is impossible to tell what proportion is memory and what exists here and now—so that a strange compound is formed of memory and reality; past and present; response to stimuli stored in my brain centers, and response to stimuli in this room.
Daniel Keyes -- Flowers for Algernon — Novel

proportion = share or percentage

Reading out the figures in a shrill, rapid voice, he proved to them in detail that they had more oats, more hay, more turnips than they had had in Jones's day, that they worked shorter hours, that their drinking water was of better quality, that they lived longer, that a larger proportion of their young ones survived infancy, and that they had more straw in their stalls and suffered less from fleas.
George Orwell -- Animal Farm

proportion = share or percentage

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

3 —as in:
a problem of large proportion

Definition

size or dimension

It is a problem of large proportion.

proportion = size or dimension

Other Uses (with this meaning)

I need clothes for a child of small proportions.

proportions = sizes or dimensions

It is a building of vast proportions.

proportions = size or dimension

It was a scandal of enormous proportions.

proportions = size or dimensions

My grandmother gave me furniture of large proportions, but my apartment is small.

proportions = dimensions

The gentleman who saw me was particularly suave in manner, but uncommunicative in equal proportion.
Bram Stoker -- Dracula

proportion = amount

Also, in the space of just over half a year, the Hubermanns had lost a son and gained a replacement of epically dangerous proportions.
Markus Zusak -- The Book Thief

proportions = size or dimension

The thing approached the proportions of a scandal — then died away.
F. Scott Fitzgerald -- The Great Gatsby

proportions = size or dimensions

He stood eight centimetres short of the standard Alpha height and was slender in proportion.
Aldous Huxley -- Brave New World

proportion = size or dimensions

This squabble grew to the proportions of a battle in the woods between partisans of both sides, and it is said to have lasted for two days.
Arthur Miller -- The Crucible

proportions = dimensions (in this case, of the intensity of the disagreement)

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

4 —as in:
respond in proportion

Definition

appropriate in size, amount, or degree

She gets to ranting and loses all sense of proportion.

proportion = appropriateness

Other Uses (with this meaning)

The punishment was out of proportion relative to the crime.

out of proportion = not appropriate in size or degree

Basketball players tend to be tall and often have long arms that are out-of-proportion even for their long bodies.

out-of-proportion = not of a normal relative size

The punishment should be in proportion to the crime.

proportion = an amount that is appropriate relative (to something)

Your anger is all out of proportion to what's happened.
Daniel Keyes -- Flowers for Algernon — Novel

out of proportion = appropriate range

Indeed, he had had little opportunity to be anything else, and he now seemed pleased out of all proportion at this slight notice from his master.
Elizabeth George Speare -- The Witch of Blackbird Pond

proportion = appropriate amount

His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful.
Mary Shelley -- Frankenstein

proportion = appropriate size

For her kindred, should the tidings ever reach them, and for the companions of her unspotted life, there remained nothing but the contagion of her dishonour; which would not fail to be distributed in strict accordance and proportion with the intimacy and sacredness of their previous relationship.
Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Scarlet Letter

proportion = keeping with (where more of one results in more of the other)

Huge it was, and nobly proportioned.
Bram Stoker -- Dracula

proportioned = dimensioned (relative sizes)

She was about thirty-five, slender and well proportioned.
Daniel Keyes -- Flowers for Algernon — Novel

proportioned = in relative body dimensions

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

Search for other examples by interest

Interest — Source