Poised

//pɔɪzd// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of poise form-of, participle, past
Adjective
  1. 1
    Possessing poise, having self-confidence.
  2. 2
    Ready, prepared.

    "He stood there, poised to act, and then suddenly he drew his gun in a smooth arc."

  3. 3
    Balanced, in position, in equilibrium.

    "The Titanic stands on end, poised briefly for the plunge."

Adjective
  1. 1
    in full control of your faculties wordnet
  2. 2
    marked by balance or equilibrium and readiness for action wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
balancedapoisearrogantassuredcalmcocksure

Example

More examples

"India is poised to surpass China and become the world's most populous country."

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.