1
as in bracing
to prepare (oneself) mentally or emotionally
the disgraced business executive poised herself for the difficult press conference
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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
Verb
-
States from Texas through the mid-Atlantic (including my own state of Pennsylvania) and New England are bracing for heavy snow, freezing rain, dangerous ice, and extreme cold.—
Kelly Phillips Erb,
Forbes.com,
24 Jan. 2026 -
New York City residents are among tens of millions of Americans under winter storm warnings in the coming days, with residents from New Mexico to New England bracing for the dangerous conditions.—
Jessica Schladebeck,
New York Daily News,
24 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
In their latest public comments, Logan and Hammack have both expressed concern that this is the fifth consecutive year that inflation is hovering above the Fed’s 2% target.—
Bryan Mena,
CNN Money,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Clouds are expected to build again Wednesday, with highs near 21 and wind chills hovering around zero, followed by a partly cloudy and cold night with lows near 9.—
Baltimore Sun staff,
Baltimore Sun,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Canada’s defense commitment Canada has spent nearly a billion dollars fortifying its southern border.—
Paula Newton,
CNN Money,
20 Jan. 2026
-
Shifting the team’s focus to 2027 Hayes’s attention will soon shift to fortifying her roster with the strongest candidates for World Cup qualifiers this year.—
Melanie Anzidei,
New York Times,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Pancreatic cancer's early symptoms include weight loss, light-colored stool or floating stools, dark-colored urine, itching, loss of appetite, belly pain that spreads from the sides to the back and yellowing of the skin and eyes, according to the Mayo Clinic.—
Sarah Sotoodeh,
FOXNews.com,
28 Jan. 2026
-
On a rainy day last week, the green sea turtle pumped her limbs and stretched her beak up to chomp a lettuce leaf floating on the surface of a tank at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.—
Lila Seidman,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
After the speech, Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, a Democrat who has led the legislature’s AI regulation push, said conversations were ongoing and that a task force created by Polis was readying language for more legislation.—
Nick Coltrain,
Denver Post,
15 Jan. 2026
-
The country is largely focused on a self-sufficiency drive to build up its chipmaking capabilities, a push that’s included readying a new round of incentives of as much as $70 billion for the chip sector.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
8 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
The fleet is a compilation of aging vessels and tankers owned by nontransparent entities with addresses in non-sanctioning countries, and sailing under flags from such countries.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
23 Jan. 2026
-
According to data pulled by CruiseMapper, the ship was sailing near the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia at the time of the incident.—
Natalia Senanayake,
PEOPLE,
21 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
The big animals were still swimming as night fell and the hunters returned home.—
Bill Kearney,
Sun Sentinel,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Meanwhile, just some of the experiences left on her impressive list include visiting Vatican City, going on a cruise, running a marathon, swimming with dolphins and visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.—
Escher Walcott,
PEOPLE,
7 Jan. 2026
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.
Cite this Entry
“Poising.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poising. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
