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
Hope, Berger proposed, is what we counterpoise to the essential revelation of history—that we’ll decline, that we’ll die.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 9, 2017
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
By the extension, counterpoise and co-operation of one Primal Cosmic Energy—with its dual impulses, Centripetal and Centrifugal—she has generated all the diverse marvels of a Universe.
From Feminism and Sex-Extinction by Arabella Kenealy
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 bed, on a low plinth, is counterpoised with a 19th-century Italian settee, and the angles of a Flavin fluorescent work echo the cast-iron windows overlooking Mercer Street.
From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2019
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
It’s composed in a rare register: mourning and fury counterpoised by humor and a refusal of despair.
From New York Times ● Feb. 20, 2018
It is held That valor is the chiefest virtue; Most dignifies the haver: if it be, The man I speak of cannot in the world Be singly counterpoised.
From Noble Deeds of American Women With Biographical Sketches of Some of the More Prominent by J. (Jesse) Clement
The counterpoising or balancing medium consisted of money to be given to the Church.
From The Mysteries of All Nations Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions Together With Strange Customs, Fables, and Tales by James Grant
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
But that Fierceness and Strength, Sweetness and Selflessness, have only intensified as, with further evolution, they have extended further into Life and Consciousness, is shown when they tear themselves asunder from their counterpoising attributes.
From Feminism and Sex-Extinction by Arabella Kenealy
Tested in this way, a body would, of course, weigh precisely the same anywhere; for if the gravitation of the body is altered, so is also in equal proportion the gravitation of the counterpoising weights.
From The Story of the Heavens by Sir Robert S. (Robert Stawell) Ball
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
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.
