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Examples of trial balloon in a Sentence
She's been floating trial balloons about a possible run for Congress.
Recent Examples on the Web
The white paper is a sort of trial balloon that goes public with the idea.
—Isabella Cueto, STAT, 15 Mar. 2024
The Sutphin gates are a trial balloon in a wider campaign against fare evasion, a pet obsession of the mayor’s.
—Clio Chang, Curbed, 7 Dec. 2023
Recently, activists pushed to turn the Marina Freeway into a park and housing, and there was an earlier trial balloon to shut the small Terminal Island Freeway.
—Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2023
Last week, House Republicans floated Emmer as a trial balloon to replace McCarthy.
—Pablo Manríquez, The New Republic, 2 Oct. 2023
Ripple became an important trial balloon for the debate.
—Byleo Schwartz, Fortune Crypto, 13 July 2023
Bowden’s trial balloon included the end of the American League and the National League.
—Steve Silverman, Forbes, 21 Apr. 2023
Trump promptly shot down their trial balloon.
—Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY, 25 June 2020
Biden's trial balloon of a spending package in the $1.75 trillion to $1.9 trillion range is much, much closer to the $1.5 trillion proposed by Manchin than the $3.5 trillion (or higher) price tag pushed by the likes of Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
—Chris Cillizza, CNN, 21 Oct. 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'trial balloon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1826, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near trial balloon
Cite this Entry
“Trial balloon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trial%20balloon. Accessed 16 Jun. 2024.
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