strike a balance

present singular third person strikes a balance · participle present striking a balance · past struck a balance · participle past struck a balance · archaic participle past rare stricken a balance

1. To find a compromise between two conflicting things; to choose a moderate option between two extremes.

   You should try to strike a balance between your social life and work life.

   4 more examples

   I like to think I strike a balance between being too strict and too lenient with my children.

   Close to the window, where he could get more than his fair share of fresh air, the other twin, James—the fat and the lean of it, old Jolyon called these brothers—like the bulky Swithin, over six feet in height, but very lean, as though destined from his birth to strike a balance and maintain an average, brooded over the scene with his permanent stoop; […]

   1906, John Galsworthy, The Man of Property, chapter 1

   2004, Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films, opinion of the court The copyright laws attempt to strike a balance between protecting original works and stifling further creativity.

   So, France does not always get it right. In its march towards a high-speed Utopia, it forgot its regional network and a balance is now needed to be struck.

   2026 May 13, Richard Wilcock, “High-speed rail: French lessons”, in RAIL, number 1061, page 35

   Synonyms: strike a medium

2. businessTo bring out the relative state of a debtor and creditor account.

   I'd like to wind up the accounts before—before—well, this time I shan't wait till the new year to strike a balance.

   c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 3