Inequalities

How to spell inequalities

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce inequalities

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inequalities mean?

1. nounUnfair or unequal differences in wealth, opportunity, status, or treatment among people or groups.
2. nounMathematical statements showing that one quantity is greater than or less than another, written with signs such as > or <.

Inequalities in a sentence

• The report exposed deep inequalities in pay between the two departments.

• The exam asked students to solve a set of linear inequalities.

• Reducing health inequalities became the central aim of the new policy.

• She graphed the two inequalities to find the shaded overlap region.

Where does inequalities come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin aequalis, meaning 'even', 'level', or 'the same', which itself grew from aequus, the word for a flat or fair surface and, figuratively, for fairness itself. Adding the negating prefix in- produced inaequalis, 'uneven' or 'unequal', and the abstract noun inaequalitas described the condition of being uneven. English took the term through Old French inequalite in the late medieval period, and by the 1400s 'inequality' was used for differences in rank, size, and treatment. The same aequus root sits behind the everyday words 'equal', 'equator', and 'equity', which is a useful memory anchor: keep the 'equal' intact and simply wrap it in in- and -ities. The mathematical use, for statements that one quantity is greater or less than another, became standard much later as algebra developed.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• equal (from Latin aequalis: even, level)
• -ity (state or quality)
• -es (plural)