Composure

How to spell composure

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce composure

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does composure mean?

1. nounA calm, controlled state of mind, especially under pressure or after a shock.

Composure in a sentence

• She kept her composure throughout the difficult interview.

• Losing his composure during the meeting damaged his credibility with the board.

Where does composure come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Composure is built from the verb 'compose' plus the noun-forming ending '-ure', and it traces back through French to the Latin verb componere, meaning 'to put together' or 'to arrange', formed from com- 'together' and ponere 'to place or set down'. English took 'compose' from Old French composer in the late 1400s, where it carried the idea of arranging parts into an orderly whole, whether music, writing, or one's own thoughts. By the early 1600s writers added '-ure' to coin 'composure', literally the state of being composed, and applied it to a calm, settled state of mind. The metaphor is neat: a person with composure has, in effect, arranged their feelings into a tidy, controlled order rather than letting them scatter. The same ponere root still surfaces in everyday relatives such as 'position', 'deposit', and 'opponent', and the silent linking of 'pose' to that root is exactly why the middle of the word is spelled with 'pos'.

How the word is built

• com- (together)
• pos (to place or put, from Latin ponere)
• -ure (noun-forming suffix)