counterbalance
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm
Proto-Italic *kom
Proto-Italic *kom-
Proto-Indo-European *-teros
Proto-Italic *-teros
Proto-Italic *komterosder.
Proto-Italic *komterād
Latin contrāder.
Old French contre-
Anglo-Norman countre-bor.
Middle English counter-
English counter-
Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁
Proto-Indo-European *dwi-
Proto-Italic *dwi-
Latin bi-
Latin lanx
Latin bilanx
Vulgar Latin *bilancia
Old French balancebor.
Middle English balaunce
English balance
English counterbalance
From counter- + balance.
Inflected forms:
form: counterbalances
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: counterbalances
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: counterbalancing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: counterbalanced
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: counterbalanced
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A weight that is put in opposition to an equal weight so it keeps that in balance.
pos: noun
tags: literally
gloss: A force or influence that balances, checks or limits an opposite one.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
gloss: To apply weight in order to balance an opposing weight.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Big brother counterbalances his two siblings to the pound.
[…] the remaining Air was not able to counterballance the Mercurial Cylinder, […]
gloss: To match or equal in effect when applying opposing force.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: Arm wrestling is undecided as long as the opponents counterbalance each other.
The defenders' knowledge of the terrain roughly counterbalances the attackers' superior equipment.
Still, a strong reluctance to re-enter a service from which he had been dismissed with contempt, almost counterbalanced these considerations.
Perhaps her views of life were too morbid, but her companions had enough cheerfulness to counterbalance any undue tinge of sadness given by one who had obviously suffered much.
[…] the study of mind is necessary to counterbalance and correct the influence of the study of matter; […]
A considerable effort has been made in these volumes to counterbalance this activity by introducing the student to the plants as living entities with a "life of their own," as Spruce put it.
It's almost eerie, in the wake of the Lawrence Summers controversy, to encounter the words of an earlier Harvard president, John Kirkland, a "friend and mentor" of Elizabeth's, who advised her that if any woman "is raised by genius and knowledge above the level of her sex, her neglect of attention appropriate to the best half of creation, attentions called femininities, will more than counterbalance all her advantages and reduce her below other women."
Government control was inconsistent and (at times) motivated by wider political issues that prevented BR being able to charge reasonable rates. Counterbalancing this was the Commission's own policy regarding freight charges. It frequently did not charge enough to cover direct costs (the so-called exceptional rates), causing massive losses to accrue on merchandise movements.
Synonyms: counterpoise
counterweight
equipoise
Derived words: counterbalancer
counterbalancingly
Translations: