counterbalance
Americannoun
verb (used with or without object)
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counterbalances,
present (3rd person singular)
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counterbalanced,
past participle, past
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counterbalancing
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
counterbalancesimple
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counterbalancessimple
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have counterbalancedperfect
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has counterbalancedperfect
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am counterbalancingprogressive
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are counterbalancingprogressive
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is counterbalancingprogressive
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have been counterbalancingperfect progressive
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has been counterbalancingperfect progressive
Past
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counterbalancedsimple
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had counterbalancedperfect
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was counterbalancingprogressive
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were counterbalancingprogressive
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had been counterbalancingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of counterbalance
Vocabulary lists containing counterbalance
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:
Because the area near the anode tends to become acidic while the area near the cathode becomes alkaline, bringing these regions closer together and circulating the liquid helps counterbalance their effects.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
The other factor, Campell and Doshi say, is interdependence in the form of growing economic, technological, and military ties to counterbalance China’s industrial might.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
“Badlands,” where Springsteen exhorts, “talk about a dream, try to make it real,” comes after “Tom Joad” as a counterbalance to the tale of hope and despair that precedes it.
From Salon ● May 28, 2026
"And the best way to counterbalance it is with a living example, with reality,"
From BBC ● May 20, 2026
In that role, Rabi strove to present a reasoned counterbalance to Strauss’s unrelenting opposition to a test ban.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
But as fertility rates fall, migration counterbalances the negative effects of an ageing population and labour force contraction, the report said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
This distant mass counterbalances the Local Group's gravity.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 6, 2026
But he cites longstanding maritime connections and the military police as reassuring counterbalances.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2023
There also need to be counterbalances and checks outside of government, such as independent journalism.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2022
Besides this, our bodies contain air, the spring of which, counterbalances the weight of the external air, and renders us insensible of its pressure.
From Conversations on Natural Philosophy, in which the Elements of that Science are Familiarly Explained by Thomas P. Jones
Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the opinions in Slaughter and Cook, handed them down as a paired set, as though one counterbalanced the other.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026
To keep his equations from predicting a collapsing universe, he introduced the cosmological constant as a kind of repulsive effect in empty space that counterbalanced gravity.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026
You might wonder why this negative effect isn’t counterbalanced by the more upbeat mood of investors whose favorite team has won.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 18, 2026
This biography astutely portrays how “Diggs’s personal failures and weaknesses” counterbalanced his impressive professional strengths and prematurely ended a career of no little significance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
I was a vision that publicly counterbalanced the negativity surrounding Muslim identity in the United States.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
And then the relationship with Andi is so counterbalancing in a really delightful way.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
Another is Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, which adviser Mike Casey, who is based in Alexandria, Va., suggested as a way to provide an inflation hedge for retirees — something that is important beyond simply counterbalancing stocks.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 30, 2026
But Mr. Brown, in his refusal to credit counterbalancing positives, such as Roosevelt’s prodigious intellect or his genuine empathy for the less fortunate, risks reducing TR to a one-dimensional straw man.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025
"Our research suggests that the counterbalancing temperature and emission feedbacks should be considered to improve the accuracy of climate change predictions in the Arctic."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 26, 2024
“I will here express but one sentiment,” Hamilton warned his Federalist colleagues, “which is, the Dismemberment of our Empire will be a clear sacrifice...without any counterbalancing good.”
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
