equilibrate

American  

[ih-kwil-uh-breyt, ee-kwuh-lahy-breyt, ek-wuh-] / ɪˈkwɪl əˌbreɪt, ˌi kwəˈlaɪ breɪt, ˌɛk wə- /

verb (used with object)

equilibrated, equilibrating

1. to balance equally; keep in equipoise or equilibrium.

2. to be in equilibrium with; counterpoise.

---

verb (used without object)

equilibrated, equilibrating

1. to be in equilibrium; balance.

equilibrate British  

/ ˌiːkwɪˈlaɪbreɪt, ˌiːkwɪlaɪˈbreɪʃən, ɪˈkwɪlɪˌbreɪt, ɪˈkwɪlɪˌbreɪtə, ɪˌkwɪlɪ- /

verb

1. to bring to or be in equilibrium; balance

---

Other Word Forms

• equilibration noun
• equilibrator noun
• unequilibrated adjective

Etymology

Origin of equilibrate

1625–35; < Late Latin aequilībrātus, past participle of aequilībrāre to be in equilibrium; -ate ¹

Example Sentences

I said,” No, she just has an elevated body temperature, because we’ve been sitting in a car that’s equilibrated with the outdoor weather.”

From Los Angeles Times

Here, climate sensitivity refers to the global warming after climate has equilibrated to a doubling of CO2 concentration relative to pre-industrial levels, an equilibrium that might take a few hundred years to establish8.

From Nature

Failure to equilibrate is of great interest in statistical physics, and the advent of ultracold atomic experiments has reinforced it as a very active field of contemporary physics research.

From Scientific American

For example, in thermodynamics, when gases of two different temperatures mix, they equilibrate at a common intermediate temperature.

From Science Magazine

The oddly disturbed patterns, MacGregor says, suggest "the ice sheet hasn't equilibrated with the presence of this impact crater."

From Science Magazine