EQ
1 antonyms and opposites of EQ, grouped by meaning.
Noun — A measure of a person's emotional intelligence: how well they recognise, understand and manage their own feelings and those of other people.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. noun
A measure of a person's emotional intelligence: how well they recognise, understand and manage their own feelings and those of other people.
“Leadership training now puts as much weight on EQ as on technical skill.”
Opposites
2. noun
In audio, the adjustment of the balance between different frequency ranges in a sound, or the equipment or software that does this.
“Add a little EQ to bring out the vocal.”
Antonyms
How to use EQ
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Informal in business use; the audio sense is standard jargon among musicians and engineers.
Etymology
An initialism of 'emotional quotient' in the first sense, modelled on IQ, and a shortening of 'equalisation' in the audio sense.
Full origin of EQ →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between EQ and IQ?
IQ measures reasoning, memory and problem-solving ability against a standardised scale. EQ describes how well you perceive and handle emotions, your own and other people's. They are largely independent: a high score on one says little about the other.
Can you improve your EQ?
Emotional skills such as reading others' reactions, naming your own feelings and pausing before responding do improve with practice and feedback, which is why workplaces train for them. Unlike IQ, EQ has no single agreed test, so scores vary a lot between instruments.
Is EQ a real, measurable thing?
Emotional intelligence is a genuine area of psychological research, but the popular 'EQ score' is far less standardised than IQ. Most commercial EQ tests are self-report questionnaires, so treat any single number with caution.