balancing act

noun

plural balancing acts

: an attempt to handle or deal with two or more things (such as obligations) at one time so as to satisfy often competing requirements

"It's a difficult balancing act between celebrating the past and making room for the future."

—Jeffrey Brown

Vegas might be the starkest example of what the hospitality industry faces across the country: a delicate balancing act between bringing back jobs and revenue and keeping workers and customers safe from a virus that's killed more than 100,000 Americans.

—Dave Jamieson

It's a balancing act between appreciation, education and safety. Earlier this year, London city council voted to tighten up a parks bylaw that restricts the amount of food residents can feed to wild animals.

—Megan Stacey

Examples of balancing act in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The flag spat is just the latest flashpoint in Eurovision’s increasingly fraught balancing act between cultural celebration and political reality. —Olivia Kemp, CNN Money, 30 Apr. 2025

Equipping leaders to deal with immediate demands and keep one eye on the future is definitely a balancing act. —Neena Newberry, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025

Lawmakers are still struggling in a delicate balancing act to try to foster regulation at the same time as some officials are concerned about restricting the growth of artificial intelligence that can be used in a wide variety of fields, including health care. —Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 8 Apr. 2025

Chelsea’s balancing act ⚖️ PSR and the delicate world of Premier League finances The incoherence of Chelsea’s squad won’t stop the Conference League from being theirs for the taking. —Phil Hay, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1907, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for balancing act

• overreact
• abstract
• attacked
• attract
• contact
• contract
• detract
• distract
• enact
• exact
• extract
• hijacked