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

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
  1. bracing
  2. hovering
  3. fortifying
  4. floating
  5. readying
  6. sailing
  7. swimming
Verb
  • Governments are also bracing for sticker shock as $1-a-year pilot deals expire.
    — J.D. Capelouto, semafor.com, 7 Oct. 2026
  • The movie is notably faithful, at times dutifully chronological and nearly always horror-movie bracing on the subject of the rise of capitalist AI.
    — Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of bracing
Verb
  • Geneva, with 405, is hovering just outside the qualifying number in ninth place.
    — Chris Hays, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Oct. 2026
  • The Chemosphere, John Lautner’s modernist UFO hovering above Hollywood Hills.
    — Jack Flemming, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of hovering
Verb
  • CISOs invested billions of dollars fortifying corporate inboxes with secure email gateways (SEGs), enforcing strict DMARC policies and conducting continuous phishing simulations for employees.
    — Firas Azmeh, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026
  • On Monday, Kiffin said LSU would consider fortifying his team’s defensive tackle depth with another player.
    — Ralph D. Russo, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of fortifying
Verb
  • Clapp said the firm focuses on avoiding highly leveraged companies and floating-rate debt, instead favoring investments with dependable cash flows to support clients over the long term.
    — Jessica Dickler, CNBC, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Most of your loans are floating, which is great for you guys a bit, but also requires that your borrowers are going to have to come up with more cash.
    — Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of floating
Verb
  • The Comet Is Coming, a breakout Shabaka project and key influence on London jazz in the 2010s, are readying a 10th anniversary reissue of their debut album, Channel the Spirits.
    — Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The Naval Air Warfare Centrutae Weapons Division in China Lake is readying a five-year engineering support contract worth up to $100 million for the ARCHER program — short for Advanced Requirements Characterisation, Engineering and Representation.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of readying
Verb
  • The cargo ship Able was carrying wheat and sailing south when the drones attacked, while the Alfa Watan was heading north with the cargo being unknown.
    — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The ship’s April transatlantic cruise starts in Port Canaveral before sailing to Bermuda, the Azores, Portugal, and England.
    — Megan duBois, Southern Living, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of sailing
Verb
  • The Accents Perhaps even more than the gigantic thing swimming in the ocean eating people, the thick Newfoundland accents are Below’s standout feature.
    — Sean T. Collins, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Forecasters also expect strong rip currents and dangerous waves, which increase the risk of drowning for people swimming at the beach.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 8 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.

Browse Nearby Words

poises
poising
poison
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Poising.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poising. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of galore

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
a cup of tea and a golf ball on tee side by side
Quiz: Sounds Like... Choose the word that sounds like it fits the clue...
See All