poise.

1. Composure and assured control of one's manner or movements.

2. To hold something balanced or suspended, or come into such a position.

3. A centimeter-gram-second unit of dynamic viscosity equal to one tenth of a pascal-second.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• social poise
• remarkable poise

On the page

Social poise carried her through the hostile reception.

He spoke with remarkable poise despite the tremor in his hands.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychological / character. Forms: Composure sense usually mass. Viscosity unit singular poise, plural poises. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: poises.