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If you do something with aplomb, you do it with composure and self-assurance—you do it with poise. This English noun aplomb was borrowed directly from French, where it carries the meanings of both “composure” and “perpendicularity.” The French word aplomb comes from the phrase “a plomb,” meaning “perpendicularly,” or literally “according to the plummet” (a plummet being a lead weight that is attached to a line and used to determine vertical alignment). Plomb has its roots in the Latin word plumbum, meaning “lead,” source too of such varied English words as plummet, plumb, plumber (which originally referred to someone who deals with or works in lead), and the symbol Pb, which designates the element lead on the periodic table. Plumbum is also the source of the word plunge, and therefore plunger. The fact that a plumber is able to use a plunger with more aplomb than most of us is, however, merely coincidence.
Examples of aplomb in a Sentence
Michael Kazin, New York Times Book Review, 16 July 2006
Stefan Soltesz conducts the excellent chorus and orchestra with aplomb, and television director Brian Large does his usual exemplary job.
—Alan Wagner, Opera News, November 2001
During a script conference recounted in the New Yorker piece, Ley fielded a variety of questions with striking aplomb that sometimes verged on arrogance.
—Frank Kuznik, Air & Space, April/May 1995
He showed great aplomb in dealing with the reporters.
you've handled a difficult situation with perfect aplomb
Jason Lamphier, EW.com, 10 Feb. 2025
And Ledru, who arguably had the most on his shoulders, appeared to handle it all with aplomb.
—Paige Reddinger, Robb Report, 31 Jan. 2025
Beyond all the legal and even medical specifics resides a sense of communal understanding, and — at the risk of sounding mawkish — a deep and abiding love for one’s fellow human beings, which Feder taps into with aplomb.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 28 Jan. 2025
It’s modeled with aplomb by Flea, bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who posed for campaign photos — sometimes lounging in the ocean — near his Malibu home.
—Miles Socha, WWD, 14 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Aplomb.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aplomb. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
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