Equilibrated

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having attained a condition where different forces are balanced and stable
2. Reached a state in which opposing influences are equal and stable
3. Brought into a condition where various factors counteract each other to maintain steadiness

Etymology: "Equilibrated" is the past participle of "equilibrate," which comes from the Late Latin verb "aequilibrare," meaning to balance evenly. That verb was built from "aequus" (equal, level) and "libra" (balance, scale), the same "libra" that gave the pound its abbreviation "lb" and the zodiac sign Libra. The Latin image is literal: two equal pans on a set of scales, held steady by counterweight. The word stayed close to that picture for centuries. Its English sense of a physical balance, as in weighing two things against each other, shifted into the idea of a system whose opposing forces cancel out so that it stays stable. A body whose muscles pull in different directions, or a chemical solution whose reactions reach a point where forward and backward change are equal, is described as equilibrated in this sense, where the forces have been brought into a steady state rather than simply placed side by side.

Synonyms: balanced, stabilized