Inequality

Alternative forms

• inæquality archaic, rare

Origin

From Old French inequalité, from Medieval Latin inaequalitas, from inaequalis ("unequal"), from in- ("not") + aequalis ("equal").

Full definition of inequality

Noun

1. An unfair, not equal, state.
• 2013-05-17, George Monbiot, Money just makes the rich suffer, In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. …  The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra–wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.
2. The inequality in living standards led to a civil war as the have nots rebelled.
3. (mathematics) A statement that of two quantities one is specifically less than (or greater than) another. Symbol: < or ≤ or > or ≥ or ≠, as appropriate.The inequality x is less than y, together with that yinequality x

Synonyms

• (statement in mathematics) inequation

Hyponyms

• Cauchy-Schwarz inequality
• triangle inequality