Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A force or influence equally counteracting another.
- noun A weight that acts to balance another; a counterpoise or counterweight.
- transitive verb To act as a counteracting force, influence, or weight to; counterpoise.
- transitive verb To oppose with an equal force; offset.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To weigh against with an equal weight; act against with equal power or effect; countervail; serve as a counterpoise to; offset; make up for.
- noun In elevators, a weight suspended on a rope which is attached to the car and passes over a pulley at the top of the elevator-shaft. The weight is usually heavier than the car, so as to allow for the average load.
- noun Equal weight, power, or influence acting in opposition to anything.
- noun In mech., a weight used to balance the vibrating parts of machinery upon their axis, so as to cause them to turn freely and to require little power to set them in motion; also, a weight by which a lever acted upon by an intermitting force is returned to its position, as in the case of the beam of a single-acting steam-engine; a counterpoise.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To oppose with an equal weight or power; to counteract the power or effect of; to countervail; to equiponderate; to balance.
- noun A mass of metal in one side of a driving wheel or fly wheel, to balance the weight of a crank pin, etc., on the opposite side of the wheel.
- noun A counterpoise to balance the weight of anything, as of a drawbridge or a scale beam.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun literally A
weight that is put inopposition to an equal weight so it keeps that inbalance . - noun figuratively A
force orinfluence that balances,checks orlimits an opposite one. - verb To apply
weight in order tobalance an opposing one. - verb To apply
force in order tobalance an opposite one. - verb figuratively To
match orequal in effect, but acting inopposition
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun equality of distribution
- noun a compensating equivalent
- noun a weight that balances another weight
- verb adjust for
- verb contrast with equal weight or force
- verb oppose and mitigate the effects of by contrary actions
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word counterbalance.
Examples
-
What a pity her main conservative counterbalance is Hasselbeck.
Who rode election's coattails furthest? Check the winners and losers 2008
-
$900 billion budget is at least six times more than China's defense spending, which is probably the greatest potential long-term counterbalance to US military dominance.
The American Scene Walker Frost 2010
-
It’s absolutely amazing that they could let the frequently lying Rush Limbaugh continue to broadcast on Armed Forces Radio and would decide to pull the plug to his rightful counterbalance from the progressive side of the fence, Ed Schultz.
Think Progress » BREAKING: Barber Cancels Ed Schultz’s Debut on Armed Forces Radio 2005
-
But the counterbalance is the presence of that 16-year-old stepdaughter in the car while she's running over her dad.
-
In a sense nostalgia can been viewed as 'a coping mechanism in uncertain times', used by both the state and individuals to 'counterbalance' the violence and breakdown of social norms which occurred during a war that fractured the public sphere.
James Denselow: From Beirut With Love James Denselow 2011
-
In a sense nostalgia can been viewed as 'a coping mechanism in uncertain times', used by both the state and individuals to 'counterbalance' the violence and breakdown of social norms which occurred during a war that fractured the public sphere.
James Denselow: From Beirut With Love James Denselow 2011
-
He made the gracious point that, absent any meaningful input from Republicans, the Blue Dogs are playing a useful role in creating a certain kind of counterbalance in the overall funding debate, which is needed.
-
Of course not - but today's media always feels the need to "counterbalance" everything - even if it overstates or validates ridiculous positions.
Hillary Hits Critics For Taking Her RFK Assassination Remarks "Out Of Context" 2009
-
It will probably come as a "counterbalance" to complaints that our trillion dollar war in Iraq had something to do with it.
Archive 2007-09-01 2007
-
I think you see you've got to have some kind of counterbalance to greed, for example.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.