composed
Americanadjective
adjective
Synonym Usage
See calm.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of composed
Explanation
The adjective composed describes someone who is calm and shows no nervousness or agitation. You may be very upset about your brother’s unkind remark, but your composed face doesn’t give away your feelings. If you’re composed, that means you're free of emotion or nervousness — or at least you look that way. Composed typically describes an outward appearance, so you could be angry on the inside but still maintain a composed manner that hides what you’re really feeling. You’ll often hear the word used to describe someone who can keep everything under control during times of stress. You probably look composed even when you’re stressing out over your calculus exam.
Vocabulary lists containing composed
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
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Mellow Out: Synonyms for "Calm"
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Dragon Hoops
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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.
Antonelli drove a composed race amid some hectic action involving the other front-runners in a grand prix interrupted by a red flag that led to a 25-lap sprint to the finish.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
Silicates are minerals and molten materials composed primarily of silicon and oxygen, along with other elements.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 29, 2026
Marles said Thursday that he met with the "Squad", an informal defence and security group composed of Australia, Japan, the United States and the Philippines, where they committed to greater defence policy coordination.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026
And the board itself, which is composed of directors with experience in chips, software, cloud-computing, hardware and AI, has committees that oversee AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
One day he told her he had composed a poem called “The Mango Lady,” based on the accident they’d witnessed, and dedicated it to Ophelia.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
