as in cargo
heavy material (such as rocks or water) that is put on a ship to make it steady or on a balloon to control its height in the air
—often used figuratively
A large amount of ballast kept the boat from capsizing. She provided the ballast the family needed in times of stress.
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Recent Examples of ballast
The emotional ballast of the film — Davidson’s bond with Dottie Achenbach (a wonderful Maxine Peake), the mother of one his childhood friends, who is also fighting her own health battles — also suffers from moments of incoherence, but the immense power of that bond goes a long way.
—
Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 7 Sep. 2025
More importantly, the film shows how extreme ideologies create strange bedfellows, which Baranov uses to his advantage, funding underground biker militias and esoteric religious headbangers alike as ballast to prop up Putin’s hardline rule.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 31 Aug. 2025
Dafoe brings ballast and humanity to it, uniting its fragments as Lucius decides what to do with his future.
—Caryn James, HollywoodReporter, 31 Aug. 2025
What To Know The authority plans to open six separate competitive procurements for domestic manufacturers to supply rail, ties, ballast, overhead contact system poles and fiber optic cable, among other components, the agency said in a news release on Thursday.
—Theo Burman, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ballast
Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 7 Sep. 2025
More importantly, the film shows how extreme ideologies create strange bedfellows, which Baranov uses to his advantage, funding underground biker militias and esoteric religious headbangers alike as ballast to prop up Putin’s hardline rule.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 31 Aug. 2025
Dafoe brings ballast and humanity to it, uniting its fragments as Lucius decides what to do with his future.
—Caryn James, HollywoodReporter, 31 Aug. 2025
What To Know The authority plans to open six separate competitive procurements for domestic manufacturers to supply rail, ties, ballast, overhead contact system poles and fiber optic cable, among other components, the agency said in a news release on Thursday.
—Theo Burman, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ballast
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ballast
Noun
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The challenge was a very physical obstacle course involving cargo nets, wide-step bridges, digging up ladders, opening rope gates and scaling ramps.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
2 Oct. 2025
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Some of this trade movement has also resulted in more cargo bound for East Coast ports.—
Sarah Jones,
Sourcing Journal,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The project aims to double road capacity across the Thames, ease congestion at the Dartford Crossing, and provide a direct freight route linking the South East ports, the Midlands, and the North.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Oct. 2025
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There are economic considerations including freight costs, the cargo transported and how quickly it’s needed, said Klaus Dodds, a geopolitical analyst and senior research fellow at RAND Europe, a research institute.—
Laura Paddison,
CNN Money,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
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This dual-purpose design requires exceptional stiffness, vibration control, and precision engineering, allowing heavy highway loads and high-speed rail traffic to share the same structure safely.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Oct. 2025
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The Short model has a maximum rear load of 70 kg (154 lb), which can heft groceries/gear or carry up to two kids on optional seating.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The viewership benefits that the NFL’s front-loading has already provided can’t be overstated.—
Richard Deitsch,
New York Times,
29 Sep. 2025
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At one point, officials considered the concept of loading in gear by lifting it up and over the stadium rim.—
Brian McCollum,
Freep.com,
25 Sep. 2025
Noun
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To get things literally rolling, Interlune announced in August that the company's payload will fly on Astrolab's FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform (FLIP) rover.—
Leonard David,
Space.com,
30 Sep. 2025
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Lee also warned a North Korean intercontinental ballistic capable of delivering a nuclear payload to the United States is nearing completion.—
Micah McCartney,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Sep. 2025
Noun
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One example can be as simple as shipments that are missing bills of lading or origin documents.—
Forbes,
Forbes,
1 June 2021
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According to bills of lading and other records provided to the San Antonio Express-News by officials at 23 food banks, CRE8AD8 delivered about 147,000 boxes total to food banks.—
Tom Orsborn,
ExpressNews.com,
1 July 2020
Noun
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That gave me strength because the work of trying to break through and communicate with my mom is really too heavy of a burden for me.—
Raven Brunner,
PEOPLE,
4 Oct. 2025
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Critics also argued that certain protections, like manual comment-hiding, place the burden on teens themselves rather than preventing harm upfront.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
4 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The project reportedly took place at the COSCO Zhoushan shipyard in China’s Putuo District, on Grand Pioneer, a 325,000 deadweight-ton very large ore carrier (VLOC) operated by the Taiwanese company.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
1 Oct. 2025
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Next comes some fancy piloting, the detachment of the thrusters, and then the scavenger ship is effectively so much deadweight in space, at least for now.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
14 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ballast.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ballast. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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