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Balance vs Due - What's the difference?

balance | due |

As a verb balance

is .

As an adjective due is

owed or owing.

As an adverb due is

(used with compass directions) directly; exactly.

As a noun due is

deserved acknowledgment.

balance

English

Alternative forms

* balaunce (obsolete)

Noun

  • (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
  • These weights are used as a balance for the overhanging verandah.
    Blair thought he could provide a useful balance to Bush's policies.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • * {{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 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.}}
  • (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.
  • I just need to nip to a bank and check my balance .
  • (watchmaking) a device used to regulate the speed of a watch, clock etc.
  • (legal) the remainder.
  • The balance of the agreement remains in effect.
  • (obsolete, astrology) Libra
  • 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) account

    Antonyms

    * (equilibrium) nonequilibrium, imbalance, unbalance * (support for both viewpoints) bias, favor/favour, partiality, partisanship, prejudice, unfairness

    Derived 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 balance

    Verb

    (balanc)
  • 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
  • One expression must check and balance another.
  • To hold (an object or objects) precariously; to support on a narrow base, so as to keep from falling.
  • I balanced my mug of coffee on my knee.
    The circus performer balances a plate on the end of a baton.
  • To compare in relative force, importance, value, etc.; to estimate.
  • * L'Estrange
  • Balance the good and evil of things.
  • (dancing) To move toward, and then back from, reciprocally.
  • to balance partners
  • (nautical) To contract, as a sail, into a narrower compass.
  • to balance the boom mainsail
  • To make the credits and debits of (an account) correspond.
  • This final payment, or credit, balances the account.
    to balance a set of books
  • * Addison
  • I am very well satisfied that it is not in my power to balance accounts with my Maker.
  • To be in equilibrium.
  • To have matching credits and debits.
  • Derived terms

    * balanced * balance out * balance the books

    See also

    * (versity) ----

    due

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Owed or owing.
  • Appropriate.
  • * Gray
  • With dirges due , in sad array, / Slow through the churchway path we saw him borne.
  • Scheduled; expected.
  • Having reached the expected, scheduled, or natural time.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.}}
  • Owing; ascribable, as to a cause.
  • * J. D. Forbes
  • This effect is due to the attraction of the sun.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=2 citation , passage=Mother

    Synonyms

    * (owed or owing) needed, owing, to be made, required * (appropriate) * expected, forecast * (having reached the scheduled or natural time) expected

    Derived terms

    * driving without due care and attention * due date * due to * in due time * taxes due * with all due respect

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (used with compass directions) Directly; exactly.
  • The river runs due north for about a mile.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Deserved acknowledgment.
  • Give him his due — he is a good actor.
  • * {{quote-news, author=Daniel Taylor, title=David Silva seizes point for Manchester City as Chelsea are checked, work=(The Guardian) (London), date=31 January 2015 citation
  • , passage=Chelsea, to give them their due , did start to cut out the defensive lapses as the game went on but they needed to because their opponents were throwing everything at them in those stages and, if anything, seemed encouraged by the message that Mourinho’s Rémy-Cahill switch sent out.}}
  • (in plural dues ) A membership fee.
  • That which is owed; debt; that which belongs or may be claimed as a right; whatever custom, law, or morality requires to be done, duty.
  • * Shakespeare
  • He will give the devil his due .
  • * Tennyson
  • Yearly little dues of wheat, and wine, and oil.
  • Right; just title or claim.
  • * Milton
  • The key of this infernal pit by due I keep.

    Derived terms

    * give someone his due * give the devil his due

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----