unequal

• unæqual, unequall (obsolete)
• unæquall (obsolete, rare)

From Middle English unequale, equivalent to un- +‎ equal. Compare German unegal (“unlevel, uneven”).

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈiːkwəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːkwəl
• Hyphenation: un‧equal

unequal (comparative more unequal, superlative most unequal)

1. Not the same.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:unequal

2. Out of balance.
3. (comparable) Inadequate; insufficiently capable or qualified.

   unequal to the task

4. Erratic, inconsistent.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 1:

     Her manner to Francesca was very unequal. Sometimes it had all the frankness of their early intimacy; at other times it was forbidding, and even petulant.

unequal (plural unequals)

1. One who is not an equal.