grace and poise
1
3.9
- noun
:
gracia y compostura
- She handled the difficult situation with remarkable grace and poise, impressing everyone around her.
Examples
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We will present ourselves with grace and poise.
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Basically, I'm trying to bring their femininity back and bring some grace and poise.
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A tall, slender woman who moved with the grace and poise of a jungle leopard moved out to the middle of the street and stood just on the woman's side.
Fiction book (2001) -
The dancer moved across the stage with grace and poise, captivating the audience.
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During the presentation, he spoke with grace and poise, making a great impression on his colleagues.
Synonyms
172
2.6
A smooth, attractive way of moving or behaving
47
3.5
A graceful, stylish way of looking or behaving that shows good taste
37
5.5
A calm, confident, and steady way of holding yourself
4
7.9
Polite and elegant behavior that shows high social standing
1
5.0
Gentle, smooth movement that looks light and controlled
1
3.2
A smooth, attractive way of moving like a dancer or swan
1
8.1
Polite and elegant behavior like people at a royal court
A light, elegant quality in movement or expression
A light, graceful way of moving or behaving that looks effortless
A quick, graceful movement that shows light, skillful control
Antonyms
How Graceful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is a straightforward combination of the constituent nouns: 'grace' (elegant movement) plus 'poise' (calm, confident bearing), with 'and' simply coordinating the two qualities. This compositional, non-idiomatic pattern is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the individual words will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrase grace and poise brings together two simple pictures: grace, like smooth, beautiful movement in a dance, and poise, like quiet balance, as when someone stands calmly on a narrow beam. So the expression means 'elegant and composed', moving or acting in a calm, balanced way.