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
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
MasterCraft boats can take in a range of ballast, depending on model and design–up to 4,300 pounds (1,950 kg).
—New Atlas, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ballast
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
MasterCraft boats can take in a range of ballast, depending on model and design–up to 4,300 pounds (1,950 kg).
—New Atlas, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ballast
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ballast
Noun
-
The Dream Chaser is designed to deliver cargo and eventually people to orbit, landing as gently as a commercial airliner.—
Bernard Marr,
Forbes.com,
12 Sep. 2025
-
The average cargo ship produces a steady rumble between about 20 and 200 hertz, roughly the same low-frequency band as a bass speaker, at a volume that’s on par with a chainsaw at close range.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
11 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Falling freight rates have been a byproduct of the slowing container demand, with Drewry’s World Container Index (WCI) measuring a 3 percent weekly decline to $2,044 per 40-foot container.—
Glenn Taylor,
Sourcing Journal,
11 Sep. 2025
-
But the team has mitigated what would have been an unmanageable $180 million hit by rebalancing sourcing away from China, renegotiating vendor terms and optimizing freight.—
John Buckingham,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Built to last, the 2020 model features a new roof design that boasts up to 90 pounds per square foot of snow load.—
Gabriela Izquierdo,
Southern Living,
12 Sep. 2025
-
It’s finished in a beautiful coat of light green and has loads of chrome trim and a black roof.—
Bryan Hood,
Robb Report,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Hiverge has already demonstrated the utility of its Hive system by using it to win the Airbus Beluga Challenge, which calls on contestants to find the most optimal way of loading and storage of aircraft parts that are carried by an Airbus Beluga XL aircraft.—
Jeremy Kahn,
Fortune,
16 Sep. 2025
-
Ahead of the busy holiday shopping season, Brzytwa suggested that many companies may be prepared to maintain prices, based on front-loading of inventory by firms in anticipation of more complicated tariff regimes coming.—
Ashley Belanger,
ArsTechnica,
15 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Flight 10 went well; Starship notched all of its main mission milestones, including its first-ever payload deployment in space (eight dummy versions of SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites).—
Mike Wall,
Space.com,
16 Sep. 2025
-
The Falcon 9 can loft heavier payloads than the old version of the Antares rocket, allowing NASA to take full advantage of the additional volume on the Cygnus XL.—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
15 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
One example can be as simple as shipments that are missing bills of lading or origin documents.—
Forbes,
Forbes,
1 June 2021
-
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
-
The stress of finding housing, steady work, and a supportive environment can be overwhelming, especially when paired with the burden of rebuilding trust.—
Walter Pavlo,
Forbes.com,
13 Sep. 2025
-
The new third line can ease the burden Coach Craig Berube has high hopes for newcomer Nicolas Roy as his 3C, and that’s with good reason.—
James Mirtle,
New York Times,
13 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
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
-
That was the point where Sunderland began to fall off the Premier League cliff-edge, and Ndong was a deadweight to hasten their demise.—
The Athletic UK Staff,
New York Times,
17 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ballast.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ballast. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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