equilibrist
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of equilibrist
From the French word équilibriste, dating back to 1750–60. See equilibrium, -ist
Explanation
An equilibrist is a person who performs daring feats of balance. If you had to carry supplies across a sagging rope bridge with no handrails, being an equilibrist would help. Most equilibrists are performers who've mastered the art of equilibrium, such as circus tightrope walkers and high-wire acrobats. An equilibrist might balance on their hands, ride a unicycle, or perform atop a stack of chairs. A particularly daring equilibrist might walk across a steep canyon on a slackwire (a loose rope that can sway from side to side, unlike a tightrope) while juggling! The word equilibrist is sometimes used figuratively to describe someone balancing many different tasks and competing interests at once.
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.
Trewey is nowhere as an equilibrist, compared to a gallant veteran who breakfasted at my table, this morning.
From A Frenchman in America Recollections of Men and Things by Max O'Rell
At that time I was a contortionist and they called me the Snake-Man; then I became an equilibrist and adopted the name of Don Alonso.
From The Quest by Isaac Goldberg
Besides her chief accomplishment she possessed wonderful strength and was a skilled equilibrist.
From Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by Walter L. (Walter Lytle) Pyle
Mr. Cady greeted Bob with listless enthusiasm, teetering the while upon his cane like a Japanese equilibrist.
From The Auction Block by Rex Ellingwood Beach
Nor do I see my way clear in providing for the steeple-climber, the equilibrist, the railroad president, or the tea-taster.
From Reveries of a Schoolmaster by Francis B. Pearson
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.
