top-heavy
having the top disproportionately heavy; liable to fall from too great weight above.
relatively much heavier or larger above the center or waist than below: a top-heavy wrestler.
Finance.
having a financial structure overburdened with securities that have priority in the payment of dividends.
Origin of top-heavy
1Other words from top-heavy
- top-heav·i·ly, adverb
- top-heav·i·ness, noun
Words Nearby top-heavy
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use top-heavy in a sentence
Societies top-heavy with men without wives, and potentially without jobs, can lead to unrest and violence.
No mutual fund is going to be top heavy in one company because it goes against the idea of a mutual fund.
A talented musician, Shearer tours periodically, impersonating an over-the-top heavy-metal rocker in the Spinal Tap band.
The accident was caused by the Netherlands carriages being poorly built and top-heavy.
A Woman's Part in a Revolution | Natalie Harris HammondShe found him somewhat ridiculous in his uniform, with his yachting-cap a trifle top-heavy for his slim skull.
What Will People Say? | Rupert Hughes
Had the spire been added, the campanile would not have the rather top-heavy appearance it has when seen from some distance away.
Cathedral Cities of Italy | William Wiehe CollinsThe decorations made the canoe top-heavy and hard to guide, and they dared not paddle fast for fear of upsetting.
Winona of the Camp Fire | Margaret Widdemertop-heavy with the lion, he slid several yards down a steep place and fell over a precipice.
Watched by Wild Animals | Enos A. Mills
British Dictionary definitions for top-heavy
unstable or unbalanced through being overloaded at the top
finance (of an enterprise or its capital structure) characterized by or containing too much debt capital in relation to revenue or profit so that too little is left over for dividend distributions; overcapitalized
(of a business enterprise) having too many executives
Derived forms of top-heavy
- top-heavily, adverb
- top-heaviness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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