sopesar
verbCEFR B2
What does “sopesar” mean in English?
to weigh up
to weigh up (sopesar las ventajas y los inconvenientes — carefully evaluating the competing merits of options before deciding; implies suspended judgement during deliberation)
Example sentences
Antes de comprometerse con una postura, es fundamental sopesar detenidamente los argumentos de ambos lados.
Before committing to a position, it is essential to carefully weigh up the arguments on both sides.
Al sopesar las opciones, resultó evidente que ninguna de ellas era perfecta y que cualquier elección implicaba sacrificios.
On weighing up the options, it became evident that none of them was perfect and that any choice involved trade-offs.
El informe sopesa con rigor los beneficios económicos frente a los costes sociales de la medida.
The report rigorously weighs the economic benefits against the social costs of the measure.
How to use it
Sopesar means 'to weigh up', 'to consider carefully the relative merits of'. It is the deliberation verb: sopesar implies suspended judgement while competing factors are evaluated before deciding. The most common frame is 'sopesar las ventajas y los inconvenientes/desventajas' or 'sopesar pros y contras'. It is intransitive-ish: you sopesar options, not people. It collocates naturally with 'cuidadosamente' (carefully), 'antes de decidir' (before deciding), and 'a fondo' (thoroughly).
Common mistake
Sopesar is about careful deliberation between competing factors — it is not just 'considerar' (consider). English speakers sometimes avoid it and default to 'valorar' or 'tener en cuenta', but sopesar has the specific sense of weighing as in scales — it implies comparative evaluation, not just noting a factor exists. Collocates: sopesar + ventajas e inconvenientes / pros y contras.