Definition of "balance"

balance

/ˈbæləns/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural balances
1. (uncountable) A state in which opposing forces harmonise; equilibrium.
  Quotations
  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.
  1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 196
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.
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian‎
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.
10. (watchmaking) A device used to regulate the speed of a watch, clock etc.
11. (law, business) The remainder.
12. (obsolete, astrology) Libra.
verb
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  2014', Peter Melville Logan, Olakunle George, Susan Hegeman, The Encyclopedia of the Novel
3. (transitive) To hold (an object or objects) precariously; to support on a narrow base, so as to keep from falling.
4. (transitive) To compare in relative force, importance, value, etc.; to estimate.
  Quotations
  Ballance the Good and Evil of Things.
  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, […]
  Mr. Morrison's ruling to reopen the station as a shelter was given after he had balanced the relative dangers of flooding and bombing.
  1941 September, Charles E. Lee, “Sheltering in London Tube Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 389
5. (transitive, dance) To move toward, and then back from, reciprocally.
6. (nautical) To contract, as a sail, into a narrower compass.
7. (transitive) To make the credits and debits of (an account) correspond.
  Quotations
  I am very well satisfied that it is not in my power to balance accounts with my Maker.
  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
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.

Definition of "balance"

balance

noun

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verb

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