Balanced

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈbælənst/

Definitions

1. Showing a stable state where forces or influences are equal
2. Maintaining an even distribution of elements to ensure fairness and stability
3. Exhibiting a state where opposing forces are equal and steady ; having parts arranged in an even or fair way to create harmony

Etymology: The word "balanced" is the past participle of "balance", and the noun behind it carries a literal image: a Latin "bilanx", meaning "two-scaled", from "bi-" (two) and "lanx" (plate or pan). It was the kind of thing you would see on a merchant's counter, a pair of pans hanging level. Vulgar Latin turned this into "*bilancia", and Old French then passed it into Middle English as "balaunce", so the modern sense of evenness began as a description of a weighing instrument. English had an older word for the same idea. Old English "wǣġ" (akin to modern "wey") meant "scales" or "weight", from a Proto-West Germanic root, and it was eventually displaced by the French-derived term. The adjective "balanced" therefore describes something that behaves like those two pans: equal weights on either side, holding steady until one is disturbed.

Synonyms: equilibrated, stable, harmonized, even, symmetrical

Antonyms: unbalanced, unstable, uneven, disproportionate, imbalance