composure
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of composure
Explanation
When you stay calm under pressure, you keep your composure. Keeping your composure for a skinned knee? Easy. Keeping your composure during an avalanche? Not so easy. The word composure is from the related word composed, but don't think of the word in the musical sense. In this case, composed means calm. What's the difference between the two? Well, composed is an adjective, so you simply are composed. Composure, on the other hand, is a noun, so you can lose, keep, regain, or maintain your composure — your ability to stay calm. If you lose your composure, you're freaking out.
Vocabulary lists containing composure
Metamorphosis
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The Things They Carried
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Inside Out & Back Again
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I’m wrecked, but I try my best to reflect composure.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026
On a course set-up which has scrambled many minds over the past four days, 31-year-old Rai played with clarity and composure in Sunday's final round.
From BBC • May 17, 2026
I struggled to regain my composure after the first shock wave pierced my heart.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026
Factors such as police deciding not to arrest Calocane after the assault on his flatmate, the incident still being under investigation, and Calocane's "composure" all formed part of the decision, Skelton said.
From BBC • May 7, 2026
“Not only does it give millions of little girls a doll that looks like them, it means you see us and that we matter,” I said, trying to regain my composure.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
