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单词 balance
释义

balance

See also: Balance and balancé

English

A balance (scales)
A rock balanced on one corner

Alternative forms

  • balaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

PIE word
*dwóh₁

From Middle English balaunce, from Old French balance, from Late Latin *bilancia, from (accusative form of) Latin bilanx (“two-scaled”), from bi- + lanx (“plate, scale”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbæləns/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -æləns

Noun

balance (countable and uncountable, plural balances)

  1. (uncountable) A state in which opposing forces harmonise; equilibrium.
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 196:
      But civilized man is quite a different animal, and when he wipes out an entire city or levels a forest, he is no longer working within the natural balance of things.
  2. (uncountable) Mental equilibrium; mental health; calmness, a state of remaining clear-headed and unperturbed.
  3. (literally or figuratively) Something of equal weight used to provide equilibrium; counterweight.
    These weights are used as a balance for the overhanging verandah
    Blair thought he could provide a useful balance to Bush's policies.
  4. A pair of scales.
  5. (uncountable) Awareness of both viewpoints or matters; neutrality; rationality; objectivity.
  6. (uncountable) The overall result of conflicting forces, opinions etc.; the influence which ultimately "weighs" more than others.
    The balance of power finally lay with the Royalist forces.
    I think the balance of opinion is that we should get out while we're ahead.
    • 2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian‎:
      The shift in the balance of power online has allowed anyone to publish to the world, from dispirited teenagers in south London to an anonymous cyber-dissident in a Middle East autocracy.
  7. (uncountable) Apparent harmony in art (between differing colours, sounds, etc.).
  8. (accounting) A list accounting for the debits on one side, and for the credits on the other.
  9. (accounting) The result of such a procedure; the difference between credit and debit of an account.
    I just need to nip to a bank and check my balance.
  10. (watchmaking) A device used to regulate the speed of a watch, clock etc.
  11. (law, business) The remainder.
    The balance of the agreement remains in effect.
    The invoice said he had only paid $50. The balance was $220.
  12. (obsolete, astrology) Libra.

Synonyms

  • (scales): pair of scales, set of scales, scales, weighing machine, weighbridge (for vehicles)
  • (equilibrium): equilibrium
  • (support for both viewpoints): disinterest, even-handedness, fairness, impartiality, neutrality, nonpartisanship
  • (list of credits and debits): account

Antonyms

  • (equilibrium): nonequilibrium, imbalance, unbalance
  • (support for both viewpoints): bias, favor/favour, partiality, partisanship, prejudice, unfairness

Derived terms

Accounting and economics
  • adjusted trial balance
  • analytical balance
  • balanced scorecard
  • balance of equities
  • balance of payments
  • balance of trade, t. b.
  • balance sheet, compar. b. s.
  • balance transfer
  • bank balance
  • closing balance
  • opening balance
  • trial balance
Other noun phrases
  • acro-balance
  • balance beam
  • balance bicycle, b. bike
  • balance board
  • balance dock
  • balance of nature
  • balance of power
  • balance of probabilities
  • balance of probability
  • balance of terror
  • balance room
  • balance weight, b.weight
  • balance wheel
  • basic balance
  • check and balance
  • chemical balance
  • color balance
  • compensation balance
  • detailed balance
  • hydrostatic balance
  • letter balance
  • nitrogen balance
  • power balance
  • radiative balance
  • Roberval balance
  • Roman balance
  • spring balance
  • symmetrical balance
  • torsion balance
  • trial balance
  • work-life balance
Compound words
  • acrobalance
  • balancewise
  • counterbalance
  • disbalance
  • electrobalance
  • equibalance
  • imbalance
  • microbalance, ultra—
  • misbalance
  • nanobalance
  • overbalance
  • thermobalance
Prepositional phrases
  • in the balance
  • off balance
  • on balance
Predicates
  • hang in the balance
  • keep one's balance
  • lose one's balance
  • strike a balance
  • throw off balance

Translations

equilibrium — see equilibrium
scales — see scales
astrology: Libra — see Libra
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

A girl balancing on a plank of wood

balance (third-person singular simple present balances, present participle balancing, simple past and past participle balanced)

  1. (transitive) To bring (items) to an equipoise, as the scales of a balance by adjusting the weights.
  2. (transitive, figurative) To make (concepts) agree.
    • 2014', Peter Melville Logan, Olakunle George, Susan Hegeman, The Encyclopedia of the Novel
      the Proteus Principle helps to qualify and balance the concepts of narrators and of narrative situations as previously developed in classical studies by G erard Genette and Franz Stanzel.
  3. (transitive) To hold (an object or objects) precariously; to support on a narrow base, so as to keep from falling.
    I balanced my mug of coffee on my knee.
    The circus performer balances a plate on the end of a baton.
  4. (transitive) To compare in relative force, importance, value, etc.; to estimate.
    • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], OCLC 228727523:
      Ballance the Good and Evil of Things.
    • 1941 September, Charles E. Lee, “Sheltering in London Tube Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 389:
      Mr. Morrison's ruling to reopen the station as a shelter was given after he had balanced the relative dangers of flooding and bombing.
  5. (transitive, dancing) To move toward, and then back from, reciprocally.
    to balance partners
  6. (nautical) To contract, as a sail, into a narrower compass.
    to balance the boom mainsail
  7. (transitive) To make the credits and debits of (an account) correspond.
    This final payment, or credit, balances the account.
    to balance a set of books
    • 1712 December 10 (Gregorian calendar)​, Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], “SATURDAY, November 29, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 549; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697:
      I am very well satisfied that it is not in my power to balance accounts with my Maker.
  8. (intransitive) To be in equilibrium.
  9. (intransitive) To have matching credits and debits.
  10. (transitive, obsolete) To weigh in a balance.
  11. (intransitive, obsolete) To hesitate or fluctuate.

Conjugation

Conjugation of balance
infinitive(to) balance
present tensepast tense
1st-person singular balance balanced
2nd-person singular balance, balancest† balanced, balancedst†
3rd-person singular balances, balanceth† balanced
plural balance
subjunctive balance balanced
imperative balance —
participles balancing balanced

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms

  • balanceable
  • balanced → unb—d, imb—d
  • balancement
  • balance out
  • balancer
  • balance the books
  • balance the ticket
  • balancing act
  • check and balance
  • counterbalance
  • disbalance
  • misbalance
  • outbalance
  • overbalance
  • rebalance
  • unbalance, unbalanceable

Translations

to estimate — see estimate
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Anagrams

  • belacan

French

Etymology

From Middle French balance, from Old French balance, from Vulgar Latin *bilancia, from Latin bilanx, from bi- (see Latin bis) and lanx.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ba.lɑ̃s/
  • audio(file)

Noun

balance f (plural balances)

  1. scales
  2. (chemistry, physics) balance
  3. (economics, electricity, politics) balance
  4. (fishing) drop-net
  5. (slang) informant, snitch
  6. (Louisiana) the rest, the remainder
  7. (Louisiana) a scale, more specifically a balancing scale

Derived terms

  • mettre en balance
  • peser dans la balance
  • balancer
  • balançoire

Verb

balance

  1. inflection of balancer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

  • “balance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

  • bancale

Latin

Noun

balance

  1. ablative singular of balanx

Middle English

Noun

balance

  1. Alternative form of balaunce

Middle French

Alternative forms

  • ballance, balanche, balence

Etymology

From Old French balance, from Vulgar Latin *bilancia, from Latin bilanx.

Noun

balance f (plural balances)

  1. scales (weighing scales)
  2. (figurative) arbitrator

Descendants

  • French: balance

References

  • balance on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *bilancia, from Latin bilanx.

Noun

balance f (oblique plural balances, nominative singular balance, nominative plural balances)

  1. scales (weighing scales)

Descendants

  • Middle French: balance, ballance, balanche, balence
    • French: balance
  • Norman: balanche
  • → Middle English: balaunce, ballaunce, balance, balaunse, balans, belaunce
    • English: balance
    • Scots: ballance

References

  • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (balance)

Portuguese

Verb

balance

  1. inflection of balançar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French balance, from Late Latin *bilancia.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (Spain) /baˈlanθe/ [baˈlãn̟.θe]
  • IPA(key): (Latin America) /baˈlanse/ [baˈlãn.se]
  • (Spain) Rhymes: -anθe
  • (Latin America) Rhymes: -anse
  • Syllabification: ba‧lan‧ce

Noun

balance m (plural balances)

  1. (accounting) balance
    Synonym: saldo
  2. balance; weighing up
    • 1988, Mecano, Un año más (written by Nacho Cano)
      Cinco minutos màs para la cuenta atrás
      Hacemos el balance de lo bueno y malo

Further reading

  • “balance”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
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