Definition of proportion

• n. - The relation or adaptation of one portion to another, or to the whole, as respect magnitude, quantity, or degree; comparative relation; ratio; as, the proportion of the parts of a building, or of the body.
• n. - Harmonic relation between parts, or between different things of the same kind; symmetrical arrangement or adjustment; symmetry; as, to be out of proportion.
• n. - The portion one receives when a whole is distributed by a rule or principle; equal or proper share; lot.
• n. - A part considered comparatively; a share.
• n. - The equality or similarity of ratios, especially of geometrical ratios; or a relation among quantities such that the quotient of the first divided by the second is equal to that of the third divided by the fourth; -- called also geometrical proportion, in distinction from arithmetical proportion, or that in which the difference of the first and second is equal to the difference of the third and fourth.
• n. - The rule of three, in arithmetic, in which the three given terms, together with the one sought, are proportional.
• v. - To adjust in a suitable proportion, as one thing or one part to another; as, to proportion the size of a building to its height; to proportion our expenditures to our income.
• v. - To form with symmetry or suitableness, as the parts of the body.
• v. - To divide into equal or just shares; to apportion.