counterpoise
Americannoun
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a counterbalancing weight.
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any equal and opposing power or force.
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the state of being in equilibrium; balance.
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Radio. a network of wires or other conductors connected to the base of an antenna, used as a substitute for the ground connection.
verb (used with object)
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to balance by an opposing weight; counteract by an opposing force.
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to bring into equilibrium.
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Archaic. to weigh (one thing) against something else; consider carefully.
noun
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a force, influence, etc, that counterbalances another
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a state of balance; equilibrium
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a weight that balances another
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a radial array of metallic wires, rods, or tubes arranged horizontally around the base of a vertical aerial to increase its transmitting efficiency
verb
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to oppose with something of equal effect, weight, or force; offset
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to bring into equilibrium
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archaic to consider (one thing) carefully in relation to another
Etymology
Origin of counterpoise
1375–1425; counter- + poise 1; replacing late Middle English countrepeis < Anglo-French, equivalent to Old French contrepois
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.
See Examples For:
Molina, the embodiment of theatrical excellence, is perfectly cast as the rational counterpoise to Brady’s zealotry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2023
We can counterpoise that to the pediatric possessive: “You’re going to take your bath,” “It’s time for your nap.”
From The New Yorker ● May 13, 2019
What Sofiya succeeds in doing in her novel is to counterpoise, to her husband’s inability to conjure love, her own utterly different vision.
From Slate ● Feb. 1, 2015
At times Bond acts as a counterpoise to Wanamaker's despair; at other times, as when she voices Eleanor's escalating insecurities, she brings her own tragic intensity to the role.
From The Guardian ● May 7, 2013
Sulla, however, had a counterpoise to any demerits of his own, in the still greater demerits of those who were opposed to him.
From The Comic History of Rome by Gilbert Abbott ? Becket
In a cluttered information age, where attention is a prized and scarce commodity, Nuzzi and Lizza—with their perfectly counterpoised surnames—have somehow broken through.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 6, 2025
The baby is not a metaphor, the narrator warns us, yet her wild, untrammeled, inscrutable being is everywhere counterpoised by the internet’s similarly enigmatic existence.
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2021
In the more lush musical passages, she counterpoised a subtle sense of freeze-framing, with the dancers halting momentarily so we could absorb the length and reach of their unfolding shapes.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 25, 2019
The drama of her grieving swoon is conveyed not by flourishes but by sobriety — broad, smooth, unadorned garments counterpoised with deep shadows cast in their folds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 13, 2017
Add now to the counterpoised scale, one and a half ounces avoirdupois, and a fourpenny piece; if the bottle prove the heavier, the guano is, in all probability, adulterated.
From Guano A Treatise of Practical Information for Farmers by Solon Robinson
The method of falsifying the balance was by loading the counterpoising weight with lead, and by filing the crosspiece that acts as fulcrum.
From The Manóbos of Mindanáo Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir by John M. Garvan
This fatal instance of the inveteracy of this disorder, when once introduced into the colony, has not been without its counterpoising benefit.
Peace, as opposed to war, is a tremendous counterpoising of forces, and it simply means an organised resistance.
From Father Payne by Arthur Christopher Benson
This was usually done on the pretense of picking up the counterpoising weight which had been purposely left on the ground.
From The Manóbos of Mindanáo Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir by John M. Garvan
He returns to his main thesis, and other counterpoising arguments occur to him.
From Plum Pudding Of Divers Ingredients, Discreetly Blended & Seasoned by Christopher Morley
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