unbalanced

Definitions

un- (reversal, not) + balanced = the pans are no longer even. The metaphor carries into three areas: physically off-kilter (an unbalanced load), one-sided in argument (an unbalanced report), and mentally off-kilter (an unbalanced mind).

Why It Means This

The leap from a tipping scale to 'mentally unstable' is an old metaphor: a balanced mind is one whose faculties are in proportion, so an unbalanced one is tipped, off-kilter. The same image lets the word mean 'biased' — a fair account gives equal weight to both pans, an unbalanced one does not.

Common Collocations

• 1.unbalanced diet不均衡的饮食
• 2.mentally unbalanced精神失常的
• 3.unbalanced report片面的报道
• 4.unbalanced load不平衡的载重

Example Sentences

• 1.

  The washing machine shakes when the load is unbalanced.

• 2.

  Critics called the documentary one-sided and unbalanced.

• 3.

  His strange behaviour made colleagues think he was mentally unbalanced.

Easily Confused

unbalanced vs. imbalanced — both mean 'not in balance,' and they overlap, but unbalanced leans toward something that was knocked off an even state (an unbalanced load, an unbalanced mind), while imbalanced/imbalance leans toward a disproportion that exists in the first place (hormonal imbalance, an imbalance of power). For people's mental state, use 'unbalanced,' not 'imbalanced.'