ADJ
- appreciable, considerable, fair, good, great, high, huge, large, overwhelming, significant, sizeable, substantial
- reasonable
- low, small
- minute, negligible, tiny
- certain
- equal
- The company employs men and women in roughly equal proportions
- equivalent, similar
- different, differing, varying
- fixed
- exact
- approximate
- average
- overall
- growing, increasing, rising
- declining, decreasing, diminishing
VERB + PROPORTION
- express sth as
- The chart shows government spending expressed as a proportion of national income
- grow as, increase as, rise as
- decline as, decrease as, diminish as, fall as
- The unskilled section of the working class was diminishing as a proportion of the workforce
PROPORTION + VERB
- grow, increase, rise
- decline, decrease, fall
ADJ
- correct
- direct
- inverse
- The human population in the region is expanding in inverse proportion to the wildlife
- relative
VERB + PROPORTION
- keep sth in
- Try to keep your view of the situation in proportion (= not think it is more serious than it is)
PREP
- in ~ (to)
- The cost of insurance increases in proportion to the performance of the car
- out of ~ (to)
- The costs of the plan are out of proportion to the budget available
- ~ of sth to sth
- The proportion of sand to cement used was three to one
PHRASES
- out of all proportion
- The problem has been exaggerated out of all proportion
- a sense of proportion
- Try to keep a sense of proportion (= of the relative importance of different things)
ADJ
- enormous, epic, extraordinary, gargantuan, generous, gigantic, heroic, huge, immense, major, mammoth, massive, monumental, staggering
- modest
- manageable, unmanageable
- The computer brings the huge task of stock control down to more manageable proportions
- alarming
- crisis, epidemic
- classic, elegant, fine, noble, perfect
- There is an entrance hall of perfect proportions, twice as long as it is wide
- bodily
VERB + PROPORTION
- reach
- The food shortage had reached crisis proportions