Balance vs Scale - What's the difference?
balance | scale |
(uncountable) a state in which opposing forces harmonise; equilibrium
(uncountable) mental equilibrium; mental health; calmness, a state of remaining clear-headed and unperturbed
something of equal weight used to provide equilibrium (literally or figuratively); counterweight
a pair of scales
(uncountable) awareness of both viewpoints or matters; neutrality; rationality; objectivity
(uncountable) the overall result of conflicting forces, opinions etc.; the influence which ultimately "weighs" more than others
* {{quote-news, year=2012
, date=April 19
, author=Josh Halliday
, title=Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?
, work=the Guardian
(uncountable) apparent harmony in art (between differing colours, sounds, etc.)
(accounting) a list accounting for the debits on one side, and for the credits on the other.
(accounting) the result of such a procedure; the difference between credit and debit of an account.
(watchmaking) a device used to regulate the speed of a watch, clock etc.
(legal) the remainder.
(obsolete, astrology) Libra
To bring to an equipoise, as the scales of a balance by adjusting the weights.
To make (items) weigh up.
(figurative) To make (concepts) agree.
* Kent
To hold (an object or objects) precariously; to support on a narrow base, so as to keep from falling.
To compare in relative force, importance, value, etc.; to estimate.
* L'Estrange
(dancing) To move toward, and then back from, reciprocally.
(nautical) To contract, as a sail, into a narrower compass.
To make the credits and debits of (an account) correspond.
* Addison
To be in equilibrium.
To have matching credits and debits.
(obsolete) A ladder; a series of steps; a means of ascending.
An ordered numerical sequence used for measurement.
Size; scope.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
, author=Robert L. Dorit
, title=Rereading Darwin
, volume=100, issue=1, page=23
, magazine=
The ratio of depicted distance to actual distance.
A line or bar associated with a drawing, used to indicate measurement when the image has been magnified or reduced
*
A means of assigning a magnitude.
(music) A series of notes spanning an octave, tritave, or pseudo-octave, used to make melodies.
A mathematical base for a numeral system.
Gradation; succession of ascending and descending steps and degrees; progressive series; scheme of comparative rank or order.
* Milton
* {{quote-news, year=2012
, date=May 13
, author=Phil McNulty
, title=Man City 3-2 QPR
, work=BBC Sport
To change the size of something whilst maintaining proportion; especially to change a process in order to produce much larger amounts of the final product.
To climb to the top of.
* 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter IX
(computing) To tolerate significant increases in throughput or other potentially limiting factors.
To weigh, measure or grade according to a scale or system.
* Shakespeare
Part of an overlapping arrangement of many small, flat and hard pieces of keratin covering the skin of an animal, particularly a fish or reptile.
* Milton
A small piece of pigmented chitin, many of which coat the wings of a butterfly or moth to give them their color.
A flake of skin of an animal afflicted with dermatitis.
A pine nut of a pinecone.
The flaky material sloughed off heated metal.
Scale mail (as opposed to chain mail).
Limescale
A scale insect
The thin metallic side plate of the handle of a pocketknife.
To remove the scales of.
To become scaly; to produce or develop scales.
To strip or clear of scale; to descale.
To take off in thin layers or scales, as tartar from the teeth; to pare off, as a surface.
* T. Burnet
To separate and come off in thin layers or laminae.
* Francis Bacon
(UK, Scotland, dialect) To scatter; to spread.
To clean, as the inside of a cannon, by the explosion of a small quantity of powder.
A device to measure mass or weight.
Either of the pans, trays, or dishes of a balance or scales.
As nouns the difference between balance and scale
is that balance is (uncountable) a state in which opposing forces harmonise; equilibrium while scale is an ordered numerical sequence used for measurement or scale can be part of an overlapping arrangement of many small, flat and hard pieces of keratin covering the skin of an animal, particularly a fish or reptile or scale can be a device to measure mass or weight.As verbs the difference between balance and scale
is that balance is to make (items) weigh up while scale is to change the size of something whilst maintaining proportion; especially to change a process in order to produce much larger amounts of the final product or scale can be to remove the scales of.balance
English
Alternative forms
* balaunce (obsolete)Noun
- These weights are used as a balance for the overhanging verandah.
- Blair thought he could provide a useful balance to Bush's policies.
- The balance of power finally lay with the Royalist forces.
- I think the balance of opinion is that we should get out while we're ahead.
citation, page= , passage=The shift in the balance of power online has allowed anyone to publish to the world, from dispirited teenagers in south London to an anonymous cyber-dissident in a Middle East autocracy.}}
- I just need to nip to a bank and check my balance .
- The balance of the agreement remains in effect.
Synonyms
* (scales) pair of scales, scales, weighing machine, weighbridge (for vehicles) * (equilibrium) equilibrium * (support for both viewpoints) disinterest, even-handedness, fairness, impartiality, neutrality, nonpartisanship * (list of credits and debits) accountAntonyms
* (equilibrium) nonequilibrium, imbalance, unbalance * (support for both viewpoints) bias, favor/favour, partiality, partisanship, prejudice, unfairnessDerived terms
; Accounting: * adjusted trial balance * analytical balance * balance of payments * balance sheet * balanced scorecard * closing balance * comparative balance sheet * trial balance * opening balance ; Other: * balance beam * balance of nature * balance of power * balance of trade * balance wheel * balancing act * chemical balance * hang in the balance * in the balance * keep one's balance * lose one's balance * off balance * on balance * strike a balance * throw off balanceVerb
(balanc)- One expression must check and balance another.
- I balanced my mug of coffee on my knee.
- The circus performer balances a plate on the end of a baton.
- Balance the good and evil of things.
- to balance partners
- to balance the boom mainsail
- This final payment, or credit, balances the account.
- to balance a set of books
- I am very well satisfied that it is not in my power to balance accounts with my Maker.
Derived terms
* balanced * balance out * balance the booksSee also
* (versity) ----scale
English
(wikipedia scale) {, style="float: right; clear:right;" , , }Etymology 1
From (etyl) ; see scan, ascend, descend, etc.Noun
(en noun)- Please rate your experience on a scale from 1 to 10.
citation, passage=We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.}}
- The Holocaust was insanity on an enormous scale .
- There are some who question the scale of our ambitions.
- This map uses a scale of 1:10.
- Even though precision can be carried to an extreme, the scales which now are drawn in (and usually connected to an appropriate figure by an arrow) will allow derivation of meaningful measurements.
- The magnitude of an earthquake is measured on the open-ended Richter scale .
- the decimal scale'''; the binary '''scale
- There is a certain scale of duties which for want of studying in right order, all the world is in confusion.
citation, page= , passage=City's players and supporters travelled from one end of the emotional scale to the other in those vital seconds, providing a truly remarkable piece of football theatre and the most dramatic conclusion to a season in Premier League history.}}
Derived terms
* Celsius scale * Fahrenheit scale * Kelvin scale * major scale * microscale * milliscale * minor scale * modal scale * scale invariance * scale model * Richter scale * to scale * wage scale * widescaleHyponyms
* (music) tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, leading note, octave interval * (geography) cartographic ratio, resolution, grain, support, focus, extent, range, sizeSee also
* degree * ordinal variableVerb
(scal)- We should scale that up by a factor of 10.
- Hilary and Norgay were the first known to have scaled Everest.
- At last I came to the great barrier-cliffs; and after three days of mad effort--of maniacal effort--I scaled' them. I built crude ladders; I wedged sticks in narrow fissures; I chopped toe-holds and finger-holds with my long knife; but at last I ' scaled them. Near the summit I came upon a huge cavern.
- That architecture won't scale to real-world environments.
- Scaling his present bearing with his past.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) scale, from (etyl) escale, from (etyl) or another (etyl) source skala /, (etyl) scaglia.Noun
(en noun)- Fish that, with their fins and shining scales , / Glide under the green wave.
Derived terms
* antiscalantVerb
(scal)- Please scale that fish for dinner.
- The dry weather is making my skin scale .
- to scale the inside of a boiler
- if all the mountains were scaled , and the earth made even
- Some sandstone scales by exposure.
- Those that cast their shell are the lobster and crab; the old skins are found, but the old shells never; so it is likely that they scale off.
- (Totten)
Etymology 3
From (etyl) . Cognate with , as in Etymology 2.Noun
(en noun)- After the long, lazy winter I was afraid to get on the scale .