Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Self-confident assurance; poise. See Synonyms at confidence.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Self-possession springing from perfect confidence in one's self; assurance.
Wiktionary
- n. self-confidence; poise; composure.
- n. ballet stability; the basic law of ballet.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Assurance of manner or of action; self-possession.
WordNet 3.0
- n. great coolness and composure under strain
Etymologies
- Borrowing from French aplomb (Wiktionary)
- French, from Old French a plomb, perpendicularly : a, according to (from Latin ad-; see ad-) + plomb, lead weight (from Latin plumbum, lead). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I must say that his aplomb is admirable in the midst of the rampant corruption and dismal level of governance provided by the New Repugnikon Machine.”
“MM handles my 16,000 files with aplomb, is infinitely customizable if you're into looks, supports all sorts of plug-ins, runs like hot knife through butter, and, of course, scans my watch folder for any changes (and does so in less than one minute at startup).”
iWatchSyncer Automatically Adds New Music To iTunes | Lifehacker Australia
“Doug Eskew is simply a rock as George and holds the stage with aplomb, which is not easy to do when Brenda Braxton is commandeering it as Billie, the heart and soul of the show.”
The Huffington Post: Michael Giltz: Theater: New York Musical Festival (NYMF) Roundup
“Burke, who won Season 7 with Grey's partner, two-time champ Derek Hough, expects Bolton, Brandy and Hasselhoff to handle the pressure of performing live with aplomb, which is more than she can say for Palin.”
Dancing with the Stars Feels the Pressure, Gets Ready to Step It Up
“First and foremost, you need to find a way to use the word "aplomb" at least once every hundred words.”
“She had all the marvellous "aplomb" of her countrywomen, who can transgress all laws of fashion or taste, and through sheer self-confidence remain correct.”
“His touch, although neat and sure, has little of that brilliance by which our virtuosos announce themselves as such in the first bars; he emphasised but little, like one conversing in a company of clever people, not with that rhetorical aplomb which is considered by virtuosos as indispensable.”
“Julia Gillard handled Mark Latham with aplomb, says former prime minister Bob Hawke BOB Hawke says former Labor leader Mark Latham is irrelevant and Prime Minister Julia Gillard handled her confrontation with him with "aplomb".”
“Gillard handled her confrontation with him with 'aplomb'.”
“But it's quite another to display the kind of aplomb Lee has displayed in his first postseason.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘aplomb’.
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important
shamanism, consol, sanguine, iffy, affinity, concatenation, honed, innumberable, aiden, inexorable, vet, suss and 176 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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Previous GRE
churlish, martinet, polyglot, aplomb, dissembler, hack, dissimilitude, whit, histrionics, prevarication, pithy, aphorism and 16 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1818 more...
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Twitter faves
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
niglets, aw, flakey, shiznit, thatch, sexy, bummers, hotty, eargasms, ratchetry, weird, fab and 457 more... -
GRE Reference
A list of words unfamiliar to me that I have repeatedly encountered in GRE question sets.
parochial, clique, salacious, aegis, ostracize, conceited, sacrilegious, inane, serendipity, gourmand, polemic, tenuous and 138 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 1972 more... -
ICE
quincunx, adoxography, panjundrum, breloque, surd, scripturient, rousant, favrile, embouchure, aquarelle, griffonage, sussultatory and 230 more...
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GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
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my GRE words
pedant, wizened, histrionic, logorrhea, frenetic, approbation, quibble, knell, acclivity, droog, prevarication, aplomb and 182 more...
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Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
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SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
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SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL A
abandon, abash, abate, abjure, ablution, abnegate, abominable, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abridge, abrogate and 172 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for aplomb.
damoiseau one of my favoritest words. Sep 26, 2011
reesetee Really? I always thought of it as rather dashing. :-) May 31, 2007
gjmurphy Such a straight-backed, leaden word. May 31, 2007
abraxaszugzwang Sad news, eh? My mom had tickets for an upcoming Beatlejuice show :( Mar 11, 2007
quotato "They were the only local act to regularly perform two nights a month there when Boston wasn't on tour -- and the principal draw was Brad, who sang John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison songs with equal aplomb and never turned away an autograph-seeker afterward." Mar 10, 2007