different between flighty vs uneven

English

Etymology

From flight +? -y. Compare Dutch vluchtig (“volatile; fleeting; cursory”), German flüchtig (“volatile; fleeting; momentary; quick”), Danish flygtig (“elusive; evasive”), Swedish flyktig.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fla?ti/

Adjective

flighty (comparative flightier, superlative flightiest)

1. Given to unplanned and silly ideas or actions.
2. (of a bird) That flies easily or often.
   • 2013, Diego Gil, Henrik Brumm, Avian Urban Ecology

     "We know that flighty birds suffer from greater risk of raptor predation, and I assume that it is useful to understand the effects of urbanization because flighty species may be more vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbance."

3. (obsolete) Swift.

Translations

English

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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?iv?n/
• Rhymes: -i?v?n

Adjective

uneven (comparative more uneven, superlative most uneven)

1. Not even
2. Not level or smooth
3. Not uniform
4. Varying in quality
5. (mathematics, rare) Odd

   Antonym: even

Synonyms

• rough

Derived terms

• unevenly
• unevenness

Translations

See also

• irregular
• unequal

Verb

uneven (third-person singular simple present unevens, present participle unevening, simple past and past participle unevened)

1. (transitive) To make uneven.
   • 1993, Travel Holiday (volume 176, page 56)

     Initially it nestled among the dozens of Indian mounds that unevened the earth near the river until they were leveled to accommodate commerce.

   • 2006, Jack Temple Kirby, Mockingbird Song: Ecological Landscapes of the South (page 128)

     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.