off balance


Out of equilibrium, unsteady, as in When learning how to ride a two-wheeler, it's easy to get off balance and fall, or She stood up and threw the canoe off balance. [Mid-1900s]

Words Nearby off balance

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use off balance in a sentence

  • As Sheffield raised his right arm for the tap, his elbow jabbed against the breast of his opponent, topping the boy off-balance.

  • An unusually heavy roll caught him slightly off-balance and jostled him against the detective.

    The Blind Spot | Austin Hall
  • As the raft became even more off-balance, it tilted to a sharper angle, sliding all the Cubs except one into the river.

  • Even when she was off-balance, her feet tapped out the elementary routine.

    At the Post | Horace Leonard Gold
  • The second beam took Rynason in the left wrist and spun him off-balance for a moment.

    Warlord of Kor | Terry Gene Carr