To save this word, you'll need to log in.
Definition of barrage balloon
: a small captive balloon used to support wires or nets as protection against air attacks
Examples of barrage balloon in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web Normandy’s Negroes, serving in mostly segregated units, worked under fire instead as stevedores and as antiaircraft men who ran up barrage balloons to frustrate enemy air strikes at the beaches.
—
Olivia B. Waxman, Time, "What’s the Most Accurate D-Day Movie? Here’s What 3 Movies Got Right—and Wrong," 5 June 2019 Those were barrage balloons, floating aloft and anchored by cables, so that enemy planes had to fly over them, making their bombing more difficult.
—
Erik Lacitis, The Seattle Times, "75 years ago, an anxious Seattle turned to radio, newspapers to learn about the D-Day invasion," 2 June 2019 The barrage balloons are going up all along the Corniche.
—
Andrew Liptak, The Verge, "Read an excerpt from Luna author Ian McDonald’s heartbreaking new time-travel romance," 31 Mar. 2018 There’s no combat action in Mr. Boorman’s film, only such apparitions as barrage balloons floating in the sky and a Luftwaffe pilot parachuting into a suburban garden.
—
Joe Morgenstern, WSJ, "‘Journey’s End’ Review: A Small Beauty About the Great War," 15 Mar. 2018
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'barrage balloon.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on barrage balloon
What made you want to look up barrage balloon? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
Great Scrabble Words—A Quiz
- Which of the following Q-without-U words means the number five in cards or dice?
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridgedWords at Play
Ask the Editors
Word Games
Share barrage balloon
Time Traveler for barrage balloon
The first known use of barrage balloon was in 1918
See more words from the same year