Disparity means a great dissimilarity, a wide difference between two or more items, people or circumstances. Disparity is related to disparate and comes from the Middle French word disparité, which in turn comes from the Latin word disparitas meaning inequality. The plural form of disparity is disparities.
Disparateness also means a great dissimilarity, a wide difference between two or more items, people or circumstances. Disparateness is also related to disparate, derived from the Latin word disparitas. Disparateness and disparity are interchangeable, but disparity is by far the most commonly used of the two words.
Examples
Louisiana ranks 51st — dead last among all states and the District of Columbia — in an index of nine “social justice indicators” that measure poverty, racial disparity and immigrant exclusion, according to experts from the Jesuit Social Justice Research Institute at Loyola University New Orleans. (The National Catholic Reporter)
The doctors under the banner of Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) have decided to intensify the agitation against the salary disparity in the tenth pay revision order. (The New Indian Express)
The Shelby County Commission will hold a special called meeting on Wednesday to accept and release the draft of the county’s 200-plus page disparity study. (The Memphis Commercial Appeal)
Compared to 1L courses taught by female professors, those taught by male professors showed slightly larger gender disparities in exam grades. (The Harvard Law Record)
Yet for all the disparateness of his resume, “The Walk” is perhaps the work that brings it all together. (The Los Angeles Times)
“Growing up, I felt everything was discordant here, but now I can see its beauty, and own the disparateness of the city, which has helped me to identify with it,” she explains. (LA Magazine)