poised

adjective \ ˈpȯizd \

|Updated on: 15 Aug 2018

Examples: poised in a Sentence

Definition of poised

: having poise:

a : marked by balance or equilibrium

b : marked by easy composure of manner or bearing

See poised defined for English-language learners

Examples of poised in a Sentence

The actors were poised on the stage, ready for the curtain to come up.
She held the pencil poised over the paper.
The company is poised for success.
She seemed poised to take on the leadership of the country.
He is now poised to become the next big star in country music.
a city poised between the mountains and the sea
a group of people poised between hope and fear

Recent Examples of poised from the Web

And in the background, the nation’s central bankers stand poised to raise interest rates and deliberately rein in growth if wages climb too rapidly.

— patricia cohen, BostonGlobe.com, "Paychecks lag as profits soar, and prices erode wage gains," 14 July 2018
And in the background, the nation’s central bankers stand poised to raise interest rates and deliberately rein in growth if wages climb too rapidly.

— patricia cohen, New York Times, "Paychecks Lag as Profits Soar, and Prices Erode Wage Gains," 13 July 2018
To grow, Dell is going to have to work with the cloud computing companies that stand poised to eat so much of its existing business, not compete against them.

— klint finley, WIRED, "Dell Is Ready to Go Public Again. But Has it Really Changed?," 2 July 2018
The Artists on the Bluff are poised to hang their new summer show the weekend of June 16-17, from l0 a.m. to 5 pm.

— Lake County News-Sun, "Calendar: Summer Arts Festival this weekend in Lake Bluff," 11 June 2018
In the beginning of the season, the four-time champion looked poised to contend for his fifth, but ever since the Indianapolis 500, he's plummeted down the championship standings.

— jim ayello, Indianapolis Star, "Ryan Hunter-Reay snaps 42-race winless streak with victory in Detroit," 3 June 2018
Last week, prices surged 1.1% Wednesday and looked poised to breach $1,360 again, but fears receded that threats from President Donald Trump would lead to a clash with Russian forces in Syria.

— amrith ramkumar, WSJ, "What’s Sucking the Air Out of Gold’s Rallies?," 15 Apr. 2018
While about half of voters disapprove as Ford as leader, the Tories remain poised to win a majority government, according to a Forum Research poll published Sunday.

— Bloomberg.com, "Ontario Gets a Taste of Populism With Doug Ford at Tory Helm," 10 Mar. 2018
Again by May, Texas seemed poised to run out of drugs with three executions scheduled beyond the expiration date of the drugs.

— keri blakinger, Houston Chronicle, "With 7 execution dates on the calendar, Texas just got more lethal injection drugs," 6 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'poised.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.