balances

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of balance.

   The accountant reconciled the outstanding balances at the end of each month.

   Maintaining delicate ecological balances requires careful management of every species in the chain.

   Note

   A plural that the word's commonest meanings resist. Equilibrium, calm, neutrality and the weight of opinion are all uncountable, so they rarely take -s. Balances most naturally means several pairs of scales or several counterweights. When an abstract meaning does pluralize, it counts separate systems, such as ecological balances, each with its own forces. The same spelling serves the present-tense verb: she balances the scales.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of balance.

   The gymnast balances on the narrow beam without a single wobble.

   The new policy balances economic growth against environmental protection.

   Note

   The -s form used after he, she or it, and nearly everything it does takes an object: she balances a cup on her knee, he balances the scales. Weighing one thing against another is the comparing use, often built with against. A sailing use sits alongside these, in which a crew balances a sail by drawing it into a narrower compass.

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