Definition of "equilibrium" []

• A condition in which all acting influences are canceled by others, resulting in a stable, balanced, or unchanging system. (noun)
• Mental or emotional balance; poise. (noun)
• Physics The state of a body or physical system at rest or in unaccelerated motion in which the resultant of all forces acting on it is zero and the sum of all torques about any axis is zero. (noun)
• Chemistry The state of a chemical reaction in which its forward and reverse reactions occur at equal rates so that the concentration of the reactants and products does not change with time. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Some scholars use the term "homeostatic emotions" to describe states like fatigue and hunger that provide feedback on the internal condition of our bodies, but the need to maintain equilibrium is broader than that."
• "The intuition behind MM's second invariance theorem, i.e., that dividend policy does not affect the market value of the firm in equilibrium, is also apparent in retrospect."
• "The term equilibrium accurately describes the type of organization established by competition between the different biological species and the environment, but not the more permanent organizations of individuals and groups which we find in human society."