balance

• balaunce (obsolete)

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”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbæləns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æləns

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^[1]:

     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, statistics) The remainder.

    The balance of the agreement remains in effect.

    The invoice said he had only paid $50. The balance was $220.

    Balance Luzon (Philippine usage)

12. (obsolete, astrology) Libra.

• (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

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

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:

     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, dance) 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:

     I am very well satisfied that it is not in my power to balance accounts with my Maker.

     The spelling has been modernized.

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.

• belacan

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

• IPA^(key): /ba.lɑ̃s/

• Audio:

  (file)

balance f (plural balances)

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

• mettre en balance
• peser dans la balance

• balancer
• balançoire

• → Russian: бала́нс (baláns)
• → Ukrainian: бала́нс (baláns)

balance

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

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

• bancale

balance

1. ablative singular of balanx

balance

1. Alternative form of balaunce

• ballance, balanche, balence

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

balance f (plural balances)

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

• French: balance

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

From Vulgar Latin *bilancia, from Latin bilanx.

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

1. scales (weighing scales)

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

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (balance)

balance

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

Borrowed from French balance, from Late Latin *bilancia.

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

balance m (plural balances)

1. 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

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (accounting) balance

   Synonym: saldo

• “balance”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

• cablean