equilibrium

See also: Equilibrium and équilibrium

English

Alternative forms

• æquilibrium (archaic)

Etymology

From Latin aequilībrium, from equal + lībra (“balance”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɛkwɪˈlɪbɹɪəm/, /iːkwɪˈlɪbɹɪəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

equilibrium (plural equilibriums or equilibria)

1. The condition of a system in which competing influences are balanced, resulting in no net change.
   • 1733, Philip Miller, “HYDROSTATICKS”, in The Gardeners Dictionary: […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC, column 1:

     To Hydroſtaticks belong whatever relates to the Gravities and Equilibria of Liquors; with the Art of weighing Bodies in Water, in order to eſtimate the ſpecifick Gravities.

   • 1999, The Matrix, Agent Smith speech

     Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus.

   Synonyms: balance, stability

   Antonyms: disequilibrium, imbalance, instability

2. Mental balance.

   Synonym: sanity

   Antonyms: insanity, instability, madness

   • 2020, The Eric Andre Show, season 5, episode 6:

     Tiffany Pollard: What just happened?!
     Eric Andre: That coffee mug is broken.
     Tiffany Pollard: I can't take this. This is gonna mess up my equilibrium.

3. (chemistry) The state of a reaction in which the rates of the forward and reverse reactions are the same.
4. (physics) The state of a body at rest or in uniform motion in which the resultant of all forces on it is zero.
   • 1943 May and June, “Notes and News: Effective Locomotive "Ack-Ack" Fire”, in Railway Magazine, page 180:

     It now appears that the locomotive did not blow up, as was commonly stated at the time, but that the aeroplane flew so low as to come into contact with the dome of the engine, knocking it off. It was the combination of the impact and the uprush of steam that so disturbed the equilibrium of the raider as to cause it to crash.

   Antonyms: disequilibrium, non-equilibrium

Hypernyms

• (in physics): stasis

Hyponyms

• (in physics): heat death (thermodynamic equilibrium state of maximum entropy)

Derived terms

• acid-base equilibrium
• chemical equilibrium
• disequilibrium
• dynamic equilibrium
• dynamic stochastic general equilibrium
• dysequilibrium
• economic equilibrium
• equilibrist
• equilibrium constant
• equilibrium price
• equilibrium time
• equilibrium vapor pressure
• general equilibrium
• Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
• heterogeneous equilibrium
• homogeneous equilibrium
• hydrostatic equilibrium
• hypoequilibrium
• isoequilibrium
• market equilibrium
• Nash equilibrium
• neutral equilibrium
• nonequilibrium
• partial equilibrium
• photoequilibrium
• preequilibrium
• pseudoequilibrium
• punctuated equilibrium
• quasiequilibrium
• radioactive equilibrium
• reequilibrium
• secular equilibrium
• stable equilibrium
• static equilibrium
• superequilibrium
• thermodynamic equilibrium
• unstable equilibrium

 

Related terms

• equilibrate
• equilibrioception
• equilibrize
• equivalence

 

Translations

condition of a system in which competing influences are balanced

• Arabic: اِتِّزَان m (ittizān), تَوَازُن m (tawāzun), تَعَادُل m (taʕādul)
• Azerbaijani: tarazlıq (az), müvazinət (az)
• Bhojpuri: संतुलन (santulan)
• Bulgarian: равнове́сие (bg) n (ravnovésie)
• Catalan: equilibri (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 平衡 (ping⁴ hang⁴)

  Hokkien: 平衡 (zh-min-nan) (pêng-hêng, pêⁿ-hêng, pîⁿ-hêng)

  Mandarin: 平衡 (zh) (pínghéng)

• Czech: rovnováha (cs) f, ekvilibrium n
• Danish: ligevægt c
• Dutch: evenwicht (nl) n
• Esperanto: ekvilibro (eo)
• Estonian: tasakaal (et)
• Finnish: tasapaino (fi)
• French: équilibre (fr) m
• German: Gleichgewicht (de) n, Balance (de) f
• Greek: ισορροπία (el) f (isorropía)
• Hebrew: אִזּוּן m ('izuun), סימביוזה (he) f (symbyoza)
• Hindi: साम्यावस्था (hi) f (sāmyāvasthā), संतुलन (hi) (santulan)
• Hungarian: egyensúly (hu)
• Ido: equilibro (io)
• Indonesian: kesetimbangan (id), keseimbangan (id), ekuilibrium (id)
• Irish: cothromaíocht f
• Italian: equilibrio (it) m
• Japanese: 均衡 (ja) (きんこう, kinkō), バランス (ja) (baransu), 釣り合い (ja) (つりあい, tsuriai), 平衡 (ja) (へいこう, heikō)
• Khiamniungan Naga: vâu
• Korean: 평형(平衡) (ko) (pyeonghyeong)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ھاوسەنگ (hawseng)

  Northern Kurdish: hevsengî (ku) f

• Latin: aequilībrium (la) n
• Latvian: līdzsvars m
• Macedonian: рамнотежа f (ramnoteža)
• Malay: keseimbangan (ms)
• Maori: ōritetanga, tauritenga
• Norwegian: ekvilibrium n, likevekt (no) m
• Ottoman Turkish: دنك (denk), اعتدال (i’tidâl)
• Polish: równowaga (pl) f
• Portuguese: equilíbrio (pt) m
• Romanian: echilibru (ro) n, stabilitate (ro) f
• Russian: равнове́сие (ru) n (ravnovésije), бала́нс (ru) m (baláns)
• Scottish Gaelic: co-chothrom m
• Spanish: equilibrio (es) m
• Swedish: jämvikt (sv) c
• Tagalog: katiningan
• Turkish: denge (tr), muvazene (tr) (obsolescent)
• Ukrainian: рівнова́га f (rivnováha)
• Vietnamese: cân bằng (vi)
• Welsh: cydbwysedd m
• Yoruba: ìwọ̀ntúnwọ̀nsì

physics: state of a body at rest or in uniform motion in which the resultant of all forces on it is zero

• Bulgarian: равнове́сие (bg) n (ravnovésie)
• Catalan: equilibri (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 平衡 (ping⁴ hang⁴)

  Hokkien: 平衡 (zh-min-nan) (pêng-hêng, pêⁿ-hêng, pîⁿ-hêng)

  Mandarin: 平衡 (zh) (pínghéng)

• Czech: rovnováha (cs) f, ekvilibrium n
• Danish: ligevægt c
• Dutch: evenwicht (nl) n
• Estonian: tasakaal (et)
• Finnish: tasapaino (fi)
• French: équilibre (fr) m
• German: Gleichgewicht (de) n
• Greek: ισορροπία (el) f (isorropía)
• Hebrew: שִׁוּוּי מִּשְׁקָל (he) m (shivvuy mishqal)
• Indonesian: kesetimbangan (id), ekuilibrium (id)
• Italian: equilibrio (it) m, quiete (it) f
• Japanese: 平衡 (ja) (へいこう, heikō)
• Kazakh: тепе-теңдік (tepe-teñdık)
• Korean: 평형(平衡) (ko) (pyeonghyeong)
• Norwegian: ekvilibrium n, likevekt (no) m
• Polish: równowaga (pl) f
• Portuguese: equilíbrio (pt) m
• Romanian: echilibru (ro) n, stabilitate (ro) f
• Russian: равнове́сие (ru) n (ravnovésije)
• Spanish: equilibrio (es) m
• Tagalog: katiningan
• Turkish: denge (tr), muvazene (tr) (obsolescent)

chemistry: state of a reaction in which the rates of the forward and reverse reactions are the same

• Bulgarian: равнове́сие (bg) n (ravnovésie)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 平衡 (ping⁴ hang⁴)

  Hokkien: 平衡 (zh-min-nan) (pêng-hêng, pêⁿ-hêng, pîⁿ-hêng)

  Mandarin: 平衡 (zh) (pínghéng)

• Czech: rovnováha (cs) f, ekvilibrium n
• Danish: ligevægt c
• Estonian: tasakaal (et)
• Finnish: tasapaino (fi)
• French: équilibre (fr) m
• German: Gleichgewicht (de) n
• Greek: ισορροπία (el) f (isorropía)
• Hebrew: שִׁוּוּי מִּשְׁקָל (he) m (shivvuy mishqal), אִזּוּן m ('izuun)
• Indonesian: kesetimbangan (id), ekuilibrium (id)
• Italian: equilibrio (it) m
• Japanese: 平衡 (ja) (へいこう, heikō)
• Korean: 평형(平衡) (ko) (pyeonghyeong)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ھاوسەنگ (hawseng)

• Maori: tauritenga
• Norwegian: ekvilibrium n, likevekt (no) m
• Polish: równowaga (pl) f
• Portuguese: equilíbrio (pt) m
• Romanian: echilibru (ro) n
• Russian: равнове́сие (ru) n (ravnovésije)
• Spanish: equilibrio (es) m
• Tagalog: katiningan
• Turkish: denge (tr), muvazene (tr) (obsolescent)

mental balance

• Bulgarian: равновесие (bg) n (ravnovesie)
• Danish: sindsligevægt c
• Dutch: evenwicht (nl) n
• Estonian: vaimne tasakaal
• Finnish: tasapaino (fi)
• French: équilibre (fr) m
• German: Ausgeglichenheit (de) f
• Greek: διανοητική αταραξία f (dianoïtikí ataraxía), ψυχική αταραξία f (psychikí ataraxía), ισορροπία (el) f (isorropía), ηρεμία (el) f (iremía)
• Hebrew: אִזּוּן m ('izuun)
• Norwegian: sinnslikevekt m
• Polish: równowaga psychiczna f
• Portuguese: equilíbrio (pt) m
• Romanian: echilibru (ro) n, echilibru mintal n (spiritual), ponderație (ro) f
• Russian: равнове́сие (ru) n (ravnovésije)
• Spanish: equilibrio (es) m
• Tagalog: katiningan
• Turkish: itidal (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} ekuilibër (sq)
• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} تَوَازُن m (tawāzun)

  Gulf Arabic: ^{(please verify)} توازن m (tawāzun)

• Armenian: ^{(please verify)} հավասարակշռություն (hy) (havasarakšṙutʻyun)
• Basque: ^{(please verify)} oreka
• Belarusian: ^{(please verify)} раўнава́га f (raŭnaváha), ^{(please verify)} бала́нс m (baláns)
• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} равнове́сие (bg) n (ravnovésie), ^{(please verify)} бала́нс (bg) m (baláns)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 平衡 (zh) (pínghéng)

• Czech: ^{(please verify)} rovnováha (cs) f
• Danish: ^{(please verify)} balance c, ^{(please verify)} ligevægt c
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} evenwicht (nl) n, ^{(please verify)} balans (nl) m
• Galician: ^{(please verify)} equilibrio (gl) m
• German: ^{(please verify)} Balance (de) f, ^{(please verify)} Gleichgewicht (de) n
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} שיווי משקל (he) m (shivúi mishkál), ^{(please verify)} איזון m (izún)
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} संतुलन (hi) m (santulan)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 均衡 (ja) (きんこう, kinkō), ^{(please verify)} バランス (ja) (baransu), ^{(please verify)} 釣り合い (ja) (つりあい, tsuriai), ^{(please verify)} 平衡 (ja) (へいこう, heikō)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 평형 (ko) (pyeonghyeong)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} terazû (ku), ^{(please verify)} hevsengî (ku), ^{(please verify)} yeksengî (ku), ^{(please verify)} balans (ku), ^{(please verify)} denge (ku)

• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} pusiausvyra (lt) f
• Macedonian: ^{(please verify)} рамнотежа f (ramnoteža)
• Maori: ^{(please verify)} waikanaetanga
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} balanse (no) m
• Ottoman Turkish: ^{(please verify)} ترازو (terazi)
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} بالانس (fa) (bâlâns), ^{(please verify)} میزان (fa) (mizân)
• Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} equilíbrio (pt)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} echilibru (ro), ^{(please verify)} cumpăt (ro), ^{(please verify)} balans (ro) n
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} равноте́жа f

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} ravnotéža (sh) f

• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} rovnováha f
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} ravnotežje (sl) n, ^{(please verify)} ravnovesje n
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} balans (sv) c, ^{(please verify)} jämvikt (sv) c, ^{(please verify)} jämviktsläge (sv) c
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} సమతుల్యత (samatulyata)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} denge (tr)
• Ukrainian: ^{(please verify)} рівнова́га f (rivnováha), ^{(please verify)} бала́нс (uk) m (baláns)