- balance
- balance n 1 Balance, equilibrium, equipoise, poise, tension are comparable when denoting the stability or efficiency resulting from the equalization or exact adjustment of opposing forces.Balance suggests a steadiness that results when all parts are properly adjusted to each other, when no one part or constituting force outweighs or is out of proportion to another{
kept her balance on the icy street
}{keeping his emotional balance under stress
}{the balance between civilian and military needs— Collier's Yr. Bk.
}{establish an acceptable balance between satisfactions and frustrations— Kardiner
}{I doubt that Thoreau would be thrown off balance by the fantastic sights and sounds of the 20th century— E. B. White
}Equilibrium may be interchangeable with balance{retain physical and emotional equilibrium under stress
}but is more often restricted to a mechanically produced or producible property deriving from a thing's construction, support, or relation to external forces and then often suggests a tendency to return to an original position after disturbance{a ship's equilibrium
}{an equilibrium of opposing human impulses— Sinclair Lewis
}{Establishing an equilibrium between the Western forces and a possible aggressor— Current History
}{a fundamental lack of equilibrium between different aspects of the constitutional distribution of power— R. M. Dawson
}Equipoise suggests perfection of balance or stability of equilibrium{to maintain... equipoise among contending interests— Butterfield
}{the structure remains upright, a marvel of equipoise—Norman Douglas
}{the equipoise of intellectual and pietistic interests in him— H. O. Taylor
}Poise denotes an equality of opposing or different things or forces and often implies a state or an appearance of perfect balance or serenity especially of mind{the condition of a poise between widely divergent impulses and emotions that produces a strange serenity— Leavis
}{the main characteristic of their blond gray-eyed colleague is quiet poise that stands her in good stead in the exciting, high-pressure work— Newsweek
}Tension in this relation implies strain, either a pull from both ends or an outward pressure in every direction, of such equality that there results a tautness without undue strain at any point; applied to a mental condition it implies an inner balanced vital opposition of moral or intellectual forces, powers, or qualities{indolent as he was on all occasions which required tension of the mind, he was active and persevering in bodily exercise— Macaulay
}{the whole tension of Gide's work is characterized in those sentences: the incessant dialectic of a man who knows no peace but the precarious equilibrium of opposites— Times Lit. Sup.
}{in letting the whole physical system lose tone, for lack of the tension which gaiety imparts— Brownell
}2 *symmetry, proportion, harmony3 *remainder, rest, residue, residuum, leavings, remnant, remains2 poise, ballast, trim, *stabilize, steadyContrasted words: *overturn, upset, capsize
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
