Word of the Day

: November 14, 2015

equanimity

noun ee-kwuh-NIM-uh-tee

What It Means

1 : evenness of mind especially under stress

2 : right disposition : balance

equanimity in Context

The most successful athletes find a way to maintain equanimity in the face of disappointment and failure.

"The theme of crime and punishment, with an emphasis on compassion, threads through this road movie, culminating in a conversation with a human-rights attorney whose equanimity in the face of daunting challenges mirrors Panahi's." — Sheri Linden, The Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2015

Did You Know?

If you think equanimity looks like it has something to do with equal, you've guessed correctly. Both equanimity and equal are derived from aequus, a Latin adjective meaning "level" or "equal." Equanimity comes from the combination of aequus and animus ("soul" or "mind") in the Latin phrase aequo animo, which means "with even mind." English speakers began using equanimity early in the 17th century with the now obsolete sense "fairness or justness of judgment," which was in keeping with the meaning of the Latin phrase. Equanimity quickly came to suggest keeping a cool head under any sort of pressure, not merely when presented with a problem, and eventually it developed an extended sense for general balance and harmony.