Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use poised in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective

Poised means possessing poise, having self-confidence. Example: “He stood there, poised to act, and then suddenly he drew his gun in a smooth arc.”

Examples of poised by meaning

adjectiveReady, prepared.

  • He stood there, poised to act, and then suddenly he drew his gun in a smooth arc.
  • Amir stated that Rabin was a "pursuer" who was poised to spill the blood of many Jews by giving up control over part of the West Bank2000, David Golinkin, “The Assassination Of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin Z"L”, in Responsa in a Moment, volume 3, page 89
  • A free-kick from Matthew Etherington caused more confusion on the stroke of half-time but Mehmet Aurelio was able to hook the ball clear with Cameron Jerome poised to strike.2011 September 29, Tom Rostance, “Stoke 2 - 1 Besiktas”, in BBC Sport

adjectiveBalanced, in position, in equilibrium.

  • The Titanic stands on end, poised briefly for the plunge.1934 January, Hanson W[eightman] Baldwin, “R. M. S. Titanic”, in Harper’s Magazine, volume 168, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, section...

More sentences with poised

  • He was a strapping youth poised on the brink of manhood.From the entry manhood
  • The rock was poised precariously on the edge of the cliff.From the entry poise
  • She was a vigorous youth poised on the brink of womanhood.From the entry womanhood
  • I poised the crowbar in my hand, and waited.From the entry poise
  • Which is what it seems poised to do in the September elections.2026 January 30, Marc Felix Serrao, “Germany's Far Right Is on the Threshold of Power. This Man Is Leading the Charge.”, in Politico…. From the entry firewall
  • But this is the proposition that is now poised to determine the future of farming.2020 February 25, Christopher de Bellaigue, “The end of farming?”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News &…. From the entry taker
  • At a hundred and thirty pounds, Altman is poised as a clothespin, fierce as a horned owl.2016 October 3, Tad Friend, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker. From the entry clothespin
  • “Ed, I need your Googlefu.” Ed swung around and poised his fingers over the keyboard.2015, Gretchen McNeil, Get Dirty, HarperCollins, →ISBN. From the entry google-fu
  • Noa has been mostly homeschooled, and is poised to graduate high school in this "severely" rural area.2014 October 28, Christopher Langley, “Artbound: Jael Hoffmann: High Desert Sculptor of Internal Landscapes”, in KCET, archived from the…. From the entry amigurumi
  • Her voice became cultivated, her walk poised, and her clothes had that choice air of debutantism.2011, Curtis Harnack, We Have All Gone Away, page 177. From the entry debutantism
  • Massimo's finger was poised above red on his multi-coloured biro like a kangaroo frozen in headlights.2007, Karen Foxlee, The Anatomy of Wings, page 250. From the entry biro
  • Burgener’s invention, 20Q, is poised to become the next toy megahit.2005 October 15, Hattie Klotz, “The golden egg”, in Ottawa Citizen, page I2. From the entry golden egg
  • We faced each other from opposite walls of the well-rubbed stairtower poised in an unblinking lovesickly gaze.2001, Flavia Alaya, Under the Rose: A Confession, page 114. From the entry stairtower
  • Delican does the same, and they stay poised like this, reared like animals.1992, Antony Sher, The indoor boy, page 68. From the entry kurabiye
  • Granville poised himself over a vast sirloin, stropped his knife briskly, then began to hack away ruthlessly.1974, James Herriot, Vet in Harness, page 201. From the entry prodigal
  • For a trembling split second Eddington's fieldboot poised over the Senator for a kick.1962, James Bassett, Harm's Way, page 298. From the entry fieldboot
  • Gross, only a 20-year-old junior, is a deadeye passer, a poised runner and a quick-thinking field general.1961 November 2, Jerry Green, “Gross Dwarfed, But Not in Ability”, in The Milwaukee Sentinel. From the entry deadeye
  • His next-door neighbor and platonic lifemate, poised, purple-clad witch Mrs.2018 September 19, Katie Rife, “Eli Roth, of all directors, brings Amblin magic to the kid-lit horror of The House With A Clock In Its…. From the entry lifemate
  • A drill punch stood poised, a big thing shaped like a C clamp, with a table and a velocitized mouth.2014, John Keeble, Yellowfish: A Novel, →ISBN, page 271. From the entry velocitize
  • Ordinary bodies, living vulnerably and decayingly in time, are poised unstably between these two conditions: the atomised and the flattened.2011, Steven Connor, “Cards”, in Paraphernalia: The Curious Lives of Magical Things, London: Profile Books, →ISBN, page 49. From the entry decayingly
  • Ruthie Alpern, as she was then known, was a poised and chatty blonde with an updo and a winning smile.2009 January 15, David Segal, Alison Leigh Cowan, “Madoffs Shared Much, but How Much?”, in New York Times. From the entry updo
  • The Yurgala fighters, the students of the ancient wisdom, stood guard around the enclavers, weapons poised, bristling with anticipation.2007, Kaye Linden, The Wisdom Keepers, […], page 12. From the entry enclaver
  • Each sinusy gasp of Enid’s seemed to pierce his ear the instant he was poised afresh to drop off.2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections. From the entry sinusy
  • Then Etheridge poised his baton, jerked an upbeat, and made the violinists speak the low G and A of their anacrusis.1989, Anthony Burgess, Any Old Iron. From the entry anacrusis
  • Last month the $7-billion women's garment industry was nervously poised on the brink of another fall buying season.1971, Forbes - Volume 108, page 18. From the entry kneesie
  • Once an IRA mouthpiece with fringe support, it is now Ireland’s most popular party and appears poised to lead the next government.2022 October 21, Rory Carroll, “Ireland grapples with singing of pro-IRA chant”, in The Guardian. From the entry ascendance
  • Francis, a regular panelist on What's My Line?, was a poised and dignified “femcee,” and she also served as the program's managing editor.2015, Charles L. Ponce de Leon, That's the Way It Is: A History of Television News in America, The University of Chicago Press, →ISBN…. From the entry femcee
  • One beast jams out its arm, as if to clothesline me, jagged claws poised to take my head off at the neck.2014, Jonathan Wood, No Hero, Titan Books, →ISBN. From the entry clothesline
  • She'd been poised to deliver another side-handed slice to Mouse's head, and only with reluctance did she lower her arm and move back.2014, Barbara Delinsky, Secret Promises, →ISBN, page 489. From the entry side-handed
  • Moreover, the upstart UK Independence Party (UKIP), which urged a 'Brixit,' seemed poised to attract significant numbers of Conservative and Labour voters.2014, Heinrich Best, John Higley, “Introduction”, in Heinrich Best, John Higley, editors, Political Elites in the Transatlantic Crisis…. From the entry Brixit
  • "Do you think a girl in Afghanistan can now do what she wants?" I ask this poised teenager, expecting another burst of youthful enthusiasm.2014 December 8, Lyse Doucet, “The brave women fighting for Afghanistan's future”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 06 Dec 2022. From the entry shoot back
  • The score was "the great equalizer," and Imani knew that as a "highbie" she was poised to benefit at the highest level.2011, Lauren McLaughlin, Scored, Random House Children's Books, →ISBN, page 3. From the entry highbie
  • With her biggest marble, a Bumboozer, poised like a bomb between her thumb and forefinger, she closed one eye and took a steadying breath.2011, Suzanne Forster, Wild Child. From the entry bumboozer
  • Poised link-up play between Essien and Lampard set the Ghanaian midfielder free soon after but his left-footed shot from outside the box was too weak.2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC. From the entry left-footed
  • Hopefully, a representative of Sue, Grabit and Run, will not be standing by poised to take legal action should anyone scratch themselves.2010 March 6, Hilarie Stelfox, “Hilarie: Learning to deal with life’s rough and tumble”, in Huddersfield Daily Examiner. From the entry Sue, Grabbit and Runne
  • The female figure from the Barbier-Mueller, her braceleted arms poised so that her hands rest on her thighs, is in fabulous shape.2009 June 5, Holland Cotter, “Putting ‘Primitive’ to Rest”, in New York Times. From the entry braceleted

Meaning of poised

  1. adjective Possessing poise, having self-confidence.
  2. adjective Ready, prepared.
  3. adjective Balanced, in position, in equilibrium.

Full definition of poised

Questions about poised in a sentence

How do you use poised in a sentence?
Poised is used as an adjective. For example: “He stood there, poised to act, and then suddenly he drew his gun in a smooth arc.”
What is a short sentence with poised?
“I poised the crowbar in my hand, and waited.”
What does poised mean?
Poised means possessing poise, having self-confidence.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: poised (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use poised in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/poised. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.