uneven

Etymology

From Middle English uneven, from Old English unefen (“unequal, unlike, dissimilar, diverse, irregular”), equivalent to un- + even. Cognate with Dutch oneven (“unequal, uneven, odd”), German uneben (“uneven, rough, irregular, bumpy”).

adj

1. Not even
2. Not level or smooth
3. Not uniform
   I've spent hours on overcrowded trains, and time on ones which were almost empty, because the recovery [from COVID] has been uneven. November 30 2022, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 79
4. Varying in quality
5. (mathematics, rare) Odd

verb

1. (transitive) To make uneven.
   Initially it nestled among the dozens of Indian mounds that unevened the earth near the river until they were leveled to accommodate commerce. 1993, Travel Holiday, volume 176, page 56
   First, of course, the war reduced the white male, mostly young adult, population by more than a quarter-million, unevening the sex ratio and connubial and other opportunities for women for perhaps a generation. 2006, Jack Temple Kirby, Mockingbird Song: Ecological Landscapes of the South, page 128