Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective In command of oneself.
- adjective In a state of balance without need of support.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Poised, or kept well balanced, by self-respect or other regard for self.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word self-poised.
Examples
-
God Himself, therefore, is what He is, self-related, self-tending; otherwise He becomes outward-tending, other-seeking — who cannot but be wholly self-poised.
The Six Enneads. Plotinus 1952
-
He was the honest mouthpiece of a most peculiar people, local in its opinions and sentiments beyond anything known at the North, even in self-poised Boston.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 42, April, 1861 Various
-
She had no self-poised artist sense, this Lois, -- knew nothing of
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 49, November, 1861 Various
-
Free labor, educated, skilful, prosperous, self-poised, and independent, grew into great strength, and accumulated untold wealth, in all the States in which slavery had been supplanted.
The Continental Monthly , Vol. 2 No. 5, November 1862 Devoted to Literature and National Policy Various
-
He was always thoroughly self-poised and deliberate; nothing ever seemed to excite him, and he always maintained a proper dignity.
Fifty Years of Public Service Shelby M. Cullom
-
It is a persuaded, self-poised community, strikingly like its negative pole on the Slavery Question, Massachusetts.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 42, April, 1861 Various
-
Here is a socialization flowing, self-poised, fertilizing; it is full of gracious invitation to all, yet regulates all; it makes liberty by making law; it produces and distributes privilege.
-
Standing on the highest eminence of human distinction, modest, firm, simple, and self-poised, having filled all lands with his renown, he has seen not only the highborn and the titled, but the poor and the lowly, in the uttermost ends of the earth, rise and uncover before him.
Public Speaking Irvah Lester Winter
-
He had a well-balanced, self-poised character, and so could trust himself
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 12, No. 31, October, 1873 Various
-
No one could gaze or even glance at that face and not perceive at once that it was the visage of a man of many sorrows -- yet of a man proud, calm, self-possessed, self-poised and indomitable.
Edmond Dantès Edmund Flagg
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.