top-heavy
Weighted toward overhead
Top-heavy describes something with too much weight or bulk concentrated at the top, making it unstable or likely to tip over: The bookshelf was top-heavy and wobbled dangerously.
The term extends to organizations with too many executives relative to workers, or budgets overloaded in one category: a top-heavy bureaucracy, a top-heavy salary structure.
Informally, it can describe a woman with large breasts.
Dangerously insecure
- teeteringUnstably balanced, nearly falling
- wobblyTending to teeter
- unsteadyLacking balance or stability
- tippyLiable to overturn
shaky · tottering · rickety · swaying · insecure · tremulous · rocky · tilting
Unequally balanced
- disproportionateNot properly scaled
- unevenNot smooth or balanced
- skewedAsymmetrically shifted
- asymmetricalNot equal on both sides
unbalanced · off-center · tilted · leaning · slanted · inclined · warped · misshapen
Having surplus employees
- hierarchicalOrganized by rank
- bloatedSwelled from excess
- inefficientPoor at using resources
- administrativeRelated to organization management
managerial · overloaded · redundant · cumbersome · unwieldy · organizational · layered · corporate
Apt to cause harm
- hazardousLikely to cause injury
- perilousFraught with danger
- treacherousDisloyal and dangerous
- riskyInvolving possible harm
overturn · capsize · fall · tipping · unstable · accident-prone
Lacking ease of movement
- awkwardLacking grace or ease
- cumbersomeAwkwardly heavy or bulky
- bulkyLarge and awkward to handle
- unwieldyAwkward to manipulate
clumsy · lumbering · ponderous · uncoordinated · gawky · maladroit · clunky · ill-proportioned
precarious
Dangerously insecure
- teeteringUnstably balanced, nearly falling
- wobblyTending to teeter
- unsteadyLacking balance or stability
tippy · shaky · tottering · rickety · swaying · insecure · tremulous · rocky · tilting · overbalanced
lopsided
Unequally balanced
- disproportionateNot properly scaled
- unevenNot smooth or balanced
- skewedAsymmetrically shifted
asymmetrical · unbalanced · off-center · tilted · leaning · slanted · inclined · warped · misshapen · one-sided
overstaffed
Having surplus employees
- hierarchicalOrganized by rank
- bloatedSwelled from excess
- inefficientPoor at using resources
administrative · managerial · overloaded · redundant · cumbersome · unwieldy · organizational · layered · corporate · centralized
dangerous
Apt to cause harm
- hazardousLikely to cause injury
- perilousFraught with danger
- treacherousDisloyal and dangerous
risky · overturn · capsize · fall · tipping · unstable · accident-prone
ungainly
Lacking ease of movement
- awkwardLacking grace or ease
- cumbersomeAwkwardly heavy or bulky
- bulkyLarge and awkward to handle
unwieldy · clumsy · lumbering · ponderous · uncoordinated · gawky · maladroit · clunky · ill-proportioned · oversized
- body typesectomorph, endomorph, mesomorph, somatotype, athletic build
- imbalanceimbalance, disequilibrium, disproportion, asymmetry, lopsidedness
- stacking mistakestoppling, overloading, poor balance, leaning tower
- mechanicsforce, turning, rotation, momentum, velocity
- stabilitystable, steady, firmness, unstable, equilibrium
- unfairnessunfair, unjust, biased, unequal, inequitable
top-heavybottom-heavy
Mass concentrated below
low-slung · ballasted · grounded · squat · broad-based
top-heavybottom-heavy
Mass concentrated below
lean · streamlined · flat · decentralized · nimble
top-heavybalanced
In a state of equilibrium
stable · well-balanced · even · stabilized · equalized