From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbalancebal‧ance1 /ˈbæləns/ ●●● S2 W2 noun 1 steadySTEADY [uncountable]BALANCE a state in which all your weight is evenly spread so that you do not fall I lost my balance and fell on my face.2 equal amountsEQUALITY [singular, uncountable]EQUAL a state in which opposite forces or influences exist in equal or the correct amounts, in a way that is good OPP imbalancebalance between Try to keep a balance between work and play.balance of Pesticides seriously upset the balance of nature.3 → on balance4 → catch/throw somebody off balance5 bankBANK [countable]BFBMONEY the amount of money that you have in your bank account My bank balance isn’t good.6 money owed [countable] the balance of a debt is the amount of money that you still owe after you have paid some of it The balance is due at the end of the month.7 → the balance8 → be/hang in the balance9 → tip/swing the balance10 for weighingFOR WEIGHING [countable]TM an instrument for weighing things, with two dishes that hang from a bar SYN scales 11 mental/emotional health [singular] when someone’s mind is healthy and their emotional state is normal The death of her friend had disturbed the balance of her mind.12 → the balance of evidence/probability etc → checks and balances at check2(4)COLLOCATIONS – Meaning 1: a state in which all your weight is evenly spread so that you do not fallverbskeep your balance (=stay steady)The sea was so rough that it was hard to keep your balance.lose your balance (=become unsteady)She nearly lost her balance as the bus suddenly moved forward.regain/recover your balance (=become steady again)He held onto Carrie until he regained his balance.knock/throw somebody off balanceThe blow was hard enough to knock him off balance.phrasesa sense of balanceA good sense of balance is always useful when you are sailing. COLLOCATIONS – Meaning 2: a state in which opposite forces or influences exist in equal or the correct amounts, in a way that is goodverbsstrike/achieve/find a balance (=succeed in getting the right balance)It is necessary to strike a balance between the needs of employers and employees.Find the right balance between enough exercise and enough rest.keep/maintain a balanceTry to keep a balance between your spending and your earnings.A firm must strive to maintain a balance between business and financial risk.upset the balance (=make it less equal or correct)The move could upset the delicate balance of power in the Middle East.change/alter/shift the balanceWill this alter the balance of power in the EU?His appointment shifted the government’s balance decisively to the right.redress the balance (also restore the balance British English) (=make it equal or correct again)What can be done to redress the balance in favour of women?adjectivesa good/healthy balanceYou should eat a good balance of carbohydrates and protein.Are you eating a healthy balance of foods?a fine balance (=hard to achieve)Teachers need to strike a fine balance of flexibility and control.a delicate balance (=easily damaged)Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere upsets the delicate balance of gases.the right/proper/correct balanceWith sport, you have to find the right balance between competition and fun.the natural balanceChemicals will upset the natural balance of the pond.the ecological balanceHuman activity is ruining the ecological balance of our planet.the political/military balanceBy this time, the political balance in the Cabinet had altered.phrasesthe balance of powerthe European balance of powerthe balance of natureNothing can justify permanent damage to the balance of nature.
Examples from the Corpus
balance• Take care to achieve a balance between career and home life.• Her practicality acts as a balance to this wild inventiveness.• The biological balance is upset by over-intensive farming.• The show hinges on this excruciating balance, hanging on Pennington's earnest performance.• A walking stick is good for balance on rough trails.• You need a great sense of balance to be an acrobat.• Riding a bike helps develop a child's sense of balance.• The sense of balance is put at peril.• On balance, however, Gramm should still win.• Finding the right balance between cooperation and competition has been the goal and bane of Western politics for centuries.• Does the school have the right balance of ages, abilities and genders?• When dealing with his staff, Mr Allen somehow managed to strike the right balance between being sympathetic and businesslike.• Meanwhile, with its future hanging in the balance, Fokker is starting to feel the pinch.• Migration plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance between population and resources.balance between• You talk about achieving a balance between idealism and realism as if we already have a perfect one.• They need to find a balance between logging jobs and the forest ecosystem.• Try to keep a balance between work and relaxation.• Accounts receivable management requires striking a balance between the cost of extending credit and the benefit received from extending credit.• Equilibrium is a state of balance between assimilation and accommodation.• The Amendment, itself, strikes the proper balance between federal and state authority.• What is required is a satisfactory balance between technology for enabling secure transactions and the economic processing of these transactions.• Both sides of the body are compared, as well as the balance between front and back of thigh.bank balance• He had a bank balance that a senior merchant banker would not be ashamed of.• The clever ones soon discovered that while banknotes could be seized a bank balance could not.• Citicorp first installed ATMs to serve customers with low bank balances.• This does not appear to harm the snails - just the bank balance.• It's the psychological equivalent of having a flashy red sports car plus the bank balance and looks to match.• The bank balance assured him of continued calm.• There would be a counterpart increase in consumer saving as the unpersuaded allowed their bank balances to grow and repaid their debts.• Until Helen discovered what appeared to be a mistake in their bank balance, that is. balance of ... mind• With the right kind of self-certainty goes sympathy with others and a sane balance of mind.• It suddenly seems as peculiar a notion as the balance of one's mind.• Did a white-hot surge of anger and disillusion count as a mitigating circumstance, disturbing the balance of the mind?• Perhaps remorse at having joined it had tipped the balance of Fred's mind.• Any discovery which later may threaten it is rejected by one's mental defences and could upset the balance of the mind.• I try to visualize the balance of my own mind.• She did not doubt what it would be: suicide while the balance of Liza's mind was disturbed.balancebalance2 ●●● S3 verb 1 KEEP STEADY[intransitive, transitive]BALANCE to be in or get into a steady position, without falling to one side or the other, or to put something into this positionbalance something on something She was balancing a plate of food on her knees.balance on He turned around, balancing awkwardly on one foot.2 [intransitive, transitive] to be equal in importance, amount, value, or effect to something that has the opposite effect Job losses in manufacturing were balanced by job increases in the service sector. just enough sugar to balance the acidity of the fruit3 THINK ABOUT[transitive]THINK ABOUT to consider the importance of one thing in relation to something else when you are making a decisionbalance something against something The courts must balance our liberty against the security of the nation.4 → balance the budget5 → balance the books → balance out→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
balance• The beam is very narrow - you may find it difficult to balance.• With flash, burning is still required to balance a print.• Balancing awkwardly on one leg, he lowered himself into his wheelchair.• They asked state officials to balance giving jobs to men and women.• As a parent trying to balance home and career, it's very difficult to find time for a social life.• He has, in addition, hatched his own solution to the challenge of balancing love and work.• Balancing my cup of coffee in one hand, I managed to open the door.• Now, at twenty-two, I was well aware that stewardess work balanced on the edge of social respectability.• An angel was balancing precariously on top of the Christmas tree.• We tried to balance the aerial on top of the TV set, but it kept falling over.• No government so far has been able to balance the number of jobs available with the number of people out of work.• His favourite party trick is balancing tin cans on his head.• Its cranberry tartness is balanced with just a hint of sweetness.balance something on something• She was balancing a plate of food on her knees.balance something against something• The public's right to know has to be balanced against national security.From Longman Business Dictionarybalancebal‧ance1 /ˈbæləns/ noun [countable]1ACCOUNTINGBANKING the difference between the total amounts of money coming into and going out of an account in a particular period of time2an amount still owed after some money has been paidThe firm has paid $128,000, but whether it will ever pay the balance remains uncertain.Most people have an outstanding balance on their credit cards for a couple of months, then pay it off.3the rest or remaining part of an amount20,000 barrels a day are shipped to San Francisco, and the balance is delivered by pipeline directly to Los Angeles.balancebalance2 verb1[transitive]ACCOUNTING to calculate the amount needed to make the debit side and the credit side of an account equal, perhaps by looking for mistakes2[intransitive]ACCOUNTING if the debit and credit sides of an account balance, they show the same amounts3balance the accounts/books/budgetACCOUNTING to do what is necessary to spend no more than the amount of money received, usually by a governmentCosta Rica has worked on programs with the International Monetary Fund to balance its accounts.Real differences exist between the administration and Congress over how to balance the budget and where to cut taxes.→ See Verb tableOrigin balance1 (1200-1300) Old French Vulgar Latin bilancia, from Late Latin bilanx “having two pans”, from Latin lanx “plate” 