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Counterbalance   /kˈaʊntərbˌæləns/  /kˈaʊnərbˌæləns/   Listen
noun
Counterbalance  n.  A weight, power, or agency, acting against or balancing another; as:
(a)
A mass of metal in one side of a driving wheel or fly wheel, to balance the weight of a crank pin, etc., on the opposite side of the wheel.
(b)
A counterpoise to balance the weight of anything, as of a drawbridge or a scale beam. "Money is the counterbalance to all other things purchasable by it."



verb
Counterbalance  v. t.  (past & past part. counterbalanced; pres. part. counterbalancing)  To oppose with an equal weight or power; to counteract the power or effect of; to countervail; to equiponderate; to balance. "The remaining air was not able to counterbalance the mercurial cylinder." "The study of mind is necessary to counterbalance and correct the influence of the study of nature."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Counterbalance" Quotes from Famous Books



... Judging by quality alone, it is difficult to say whether his work stands higher or lower in the scale of human achievement than that of Racine—whether the breadth of vision, the diversity, and the humanity of his comedies do or do not counterbalance the poetry, the intensity, and the perfect art of his friend's tragedies; at least it seems certain that the difference between the reputations of the two men with the world in general by no means corresponds with the real difference ...
— Landmarks in French Literature • G. Lytton Strachey

... favorable anticipation which has been formed of this great undertaking will be verified, and that when completed it will afford very great if not complete protection to our Atlantic frontier in the event of another war—protection sufficient to counterbalance in a single campaign with an enemy powerful at sea the expense of all these works, without taking into the estimate the saving of the lives of so many of our citizens, the protection of our towns and other property, or the tendency of such ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... humanity, and his feeling for the common pathos of the human lot, as he encounters it in individual lives, is as earnest and as simple, as it is invariably lovely and touching in its expression. But detached passages cannot counterbalance the effect of a whole compact body of teaching. The multitude stands between Destiny on the one side, and the Hero on the other; a sport to the first, and as potter's clay to the second. 'Dogs, would ye then live for ever?' ...
— Critical Miscellanies, Vol. I - Essay 2: Carlyle • John Morley

... ever a welcome guest in the Pyms' household showed that he had many excellent qualities besides his undisputed personal attractiveness to counterbalance his obstinate bigotry. Otherwise Mr. Pym would not have shown him the friendliness he did; for in his quiet way Henry Pym possessed greatness, and everyone throughout the land knew that he was of those resolute, reliable few who ...
— The Rhodesian • Gertrude Page

... hair, and is kept close-trimmed. He has a broad, full forehead; honest, open blue eyes, not pale blue, but a fine deep colour, and they meet one frankly and fearlessly. His mouth is really too handsome for a man, but his chin is firm enough to counterbalance that. His manners are fine, and he has evidently been reared a gentleman. I chanced to hear him sing last night, and he has a wonderfully high tenor voice—an unusual voice; clear and sweet, and soft ...
— Against Odds - A Detective Story • Lawrence L. Lynch


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