UNEVEN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does uneven mean? 

• UNEVEN (adjective)
  The adjective UNEVEN has 5 senses:

1. not even or uniform as e.g. in shape or texture

2. (of a contest or contestants) not fairly matched as opponents

3. not divisible by two

4. variable and recurring at irregular intervals

5. lacking consistency

  Familiarity information: UNEVEN used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNEVEN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not even or uniform as e.g. in shape or texture

Context example:

wood with an uneven grain

Similar:

crinkled; crinkly; rippled; wavelike; wavy (uneven by virtue of having wrinkles or waves)

cross-grained; curly-grained; wavy-grained (of timber; having fibers running irregularly rather than in parallel)

irregular ((of a surface or shape); not level or flat or symmetrical)

jagged; jaggy; scraggy (having a sharply uneven surface or outline)

lumpy (having lumps; not smooth and even in texture)

out of true; untrue (not accurately fitted; not level)

patchy (irregular or uneven in quality, texture, etc.)

pebble-grained ((of leather) having a rough surface as the result of being treated with a patterned roller)

ragged (having an irregular outline)

unparallel (not straight or parallel)

Also:

rough; unsmooth (having or caused by an irregular surface)

unsteady (subject to change or variation)

Attribute:

evenness; invariability (a quality of uniformity and lack of variation)

Antonym:

even (being level or straight or regular and without variation as e.g. in shape or texture; or being in the same plane or at the same height as something else (i.e. even with))

Derivation:

unevenness (the quality of being uneven and lacking uniformity)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(of a contest or contestants) not fairly matched as opponents

Synonyms:

mismatched; uneven

Context example:

vaudeville...waged an uneven battle against the church

Similar:

unequal (poorly balanced or matched in quantity or value or measure)

Derivation:

unevenness (the quality of being unbalanced)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Not divisible by two

Synonyms:

odd; uneven

Sense 4

Meaning:

Variable and recurring at irregular intervals

Context example:

uneven spacing

Similar:

unsteady (subject to change or variation)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Lacking consistency

Synonyms:

scratchy; spotty; uneven

Context example:

the golfer hit the ball well but his putting was spotty

Similar:

inconsistent (displaying a lack of consistency)

Derivation:

unevenness (the quality of being uneven and lacking uniformity)

 Context examples 

The uneven heating and cooling of Bennu as it rotates in sunlight is causing the asteroid to increase its rotation speed.

(NASA Mission Reveals Asteroid Has Big Surprises, NASA)

Hannah washed and ironed them for me, and I marked them all myself, said Beth, looking proudly at the somewhat uneven letters which had cost her such labor.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Its color is usually uneven and can range from pink to dark brown.

(Atypical mole, NCI Dictionary)

A morphologic architectural pattern in which a cellular population is distributed in a localized or relatively uneven fashion throughout a specified tissue area; not diffuse.

(Focal Pattern, NCI Thesaurus)

Irregular or uneven in quality, texture, or distribution.

(Patchy, NCI Thesaurus)

If you have stained, broken or uneven teeth, cosmetic dentistry can help.

(Cosmetic Dentistry, NIH)

The uneven distribution of craters indicates that the crust is not uniform, and that Ceres has gone through a complex geological evolution.

(Ceres' Geological Activity, Ice Revealed in New Research, NASA)

On the summit was a small uneven plateau, with a stretch across of a hundred paces, and a depth of half as much again.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

After a few hours the road began to be rough, and the walking grew so difficult that the Scarecrow often stumbled over the yellow bricks, which were here very uneven.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The surface is very uneven, rising like the waves of a troubled sea, descending low, and interspersed by rifts that sink deep.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)