poising

verb

present participle of poise
1
as in bracing
to prepare (oneself) mentally or emotionally the disgraced business executive poised herself for the difficult press conference

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in hovering
to rest or move along the surface of a liquid or in the air the falcon poised in the air for an instant before diving to attack its prey

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for poising
  1. bracing
  2. hovering
  3. fortifying
  4. floating
  5. readying
  6. sailing
  7. swimming
Verb
  • Florida is already bracing for heavy amounts of rain in areas that don't normally experience huge downpours.
    — Ava Berger, NPR, 29 Oct. 2026
  • Polls close and ballot counting begins As polling stations close Tuesday evening, local election officials and voting rights groups are bracing for the prospect of federal officials possibly seizing election materials and voting machines.
    — Philip Wang, Time, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of bracing
Verb
  • Adding to the dark mood are police helicopters hovering, with searchlights blazing, to enforce a late-night curfew in the Les Halles and République sections of Paris.
    — Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Fleetwood is 18th in the 24-team League Two, hovering just above the drop zone after winning just one of its past eight league matches.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of hovering
Verb
  • Tensions between North and South Korea have risen since Pyongyang began fortifying its border in April 2024.
    — Reuters, NBC news, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Tensions between North and South Korea have risen since Pyongyang began fortifying its ‌border ⁠in April 2024.
    — Reuters, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of fortifying
Verb
  • Russia’s offer to supply floating nuclear power plants to coastal African countries emerged as a major focus of talks held with African officials at a summit in Moscow this week.
    — Ruben Nyanguila, semafor.com, 30 Oct. 2026
  • But there are actual terrifying objects in space, entities operating on a scale that crush our minds and reduce our human experience to a mote of dust floating in the dark.
    — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of floating
Verb
  • The company is readying a more integrated operating model that’s built around global brands, global markets and global functions in order to accelerate profitable growth and capture benefits of scaling, while maintaining creative autonomy.
    — Jennifer Weil, Footwear News, 28 Oct. 2026
  • The river has helped this woman clean her family’s hard work out of their clothes, readying the garments for more toil.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of readying
Verb
  • Charging infrastructure at ports would supply the electricity needed for operation, allowing the concept to avoid direct carbon emissions while sailing.
    — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Chuck Zimmerman, who is described by his supporters as a Navy veteran who was intercepted by the Russian navy while sailing in international waters.
    — Ivana Kottasová, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of sailing
Verb
  • It’s estimated about 25% of the sunscreen people apply to their skin washes off while swimming or wading in the ocean.
    — Matthew Perrone, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026
  • For twenty years, McCarthy has been swimming against the current, writing novels that reflect, with unusual intensity, his disdain for the conventional underpinnings of literary fiction.
    — Max Callimanopulos, New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of swimming
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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poises
poising
poison
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Cite this Entry

“Poising.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poising. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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