ballooning 1 of 3

adjective

Definition of ballooningnext
as in dilating

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

ballooning

2 of 3

noun

as in soaring

Related Words

ballooning

3 of 3

verb

present participle of balloon
1
as in increasing
to become greater in extent, volume, amount, or number the number of students who stay home sick balloons every winter

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in protruding
to extend outward beyond a usual point the paper bag ballooned and blew away as the wind lifted it skyward

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of ballooning
Adjective
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images The House of Representatives adjourned Wednesday, leaving Washington and almost certainly punting action on a ballooning artificial intelligence crisis until after November's midterm election. — Garrett Downs, CNBC, 17 Sep. 2026
Noun
The president of the European Central Bank played down speculation about intervention in France’s ballooning budget crisis on Wednesday. — John Liu, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026 France’s challenges mounted as concerns over its ballooning debt weighed on economic activity and reverberated across Europe. — Prashant Rao, semafor.com, 8 Oct. 2026
Verb
Such is the fate that befalls Meta, whose shares fell as much as 10% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the company missed earnings due to costs ballooning 55% (Meta’s stock later recovered some ground and was down 7%). — Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 30 July 2026 So far there’s no sign of that, and time is running out, although to its credit the EU, with its Industrial Accelerator Act, wants urgent action to save local automakers from succumbing to ballooning Chinese sales. — Neil Winton, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for ballooning
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ballooning
  1. dilated
  2. soaring
  3. increasing
  4. protruding
  5. protuberant
  6. gliding
  7. rising
  8. poking
Adjective
  • Being in a state of desire produces physical reactions that are difficult to manufacture — sweat, blood rushing, dilated pupils — while offering up the human impulses behind the work, like what excites a designer and what they’re drawn to.
    — Amy Francombe, Vogue, 9 Oct. 2026
  • There she was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a progressive heart muscle disease.
    — Wendy Grossman Kantor, PEOPLE, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of dilated
Noun
  • Yet the ensuing media coverage sent the rapper’s profile soaring.
    — Naveen Basavaraj, The Conversation, 5 Oct. 2026
  • And this isn't the first time Sydney sent a company's stock price soaring.
    — Matt Calkins OutKick, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of soaring
Verb
  • Beyond domestic challenges, CATL is also scrambling to build more plants in Europe to avoid running afoul of increasing EU protectionism.
    — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 21 Oct. 2026
  • While the disease remains more common among women over 50, diagnoses among younger women are increasing, prompting cancer specialists to encourage earlier conversations about individual risk.
    — Melissa May, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of increasing
Verb
  • Once fished to the brink of extinction globally, sand tiger sharks, that iconic aquarium shark with a jaw of protruding, jagged teeth that only a mother could love, have been increasing in the Boston Harbor over the last decade.
    — Asia London Palomba, Christian Science Monitor, 20 Oct. 2026
  • The face is a glossy black plastic with the exterior lenses slightly protruding, keeping the front from looking like a single flat surface.
    — Will Greenwald, PC Magazine, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of protruding
Adjective
  • Lu, who has protuberant light brown eyes, small black ears and a floppy tongue, loves to snuggle with her four-legged foster siblings and stretch out in the sun, according to the contest website.
    — Suhauna Hussain, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2026
  • And the rear of the case is deeper to accommodate a protuberant rear camera—hinting that the next iPad will see a big camera upgrade.
    — David Phelan, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2022
Definition of protuberant
Noun
  • Visitors especially enjoy paragliding and hang-gliding in the area, as well as canoeing and hiking all around the Valley.
    — Abigail Wilt, Southern Living, 28 July 2026
  • And in 2022, Ristroph studied the surpassingly complex aerodynamics of what makes a good paper airplane—specifically what is needed for smooth gliding.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 13 July 2026
Definition of gliding
Verb
  • Fighting autocracy and inequality The Ford Foundation frames its new plan as its answer to rising autocracy, widening inequality, and fading public trust.
    — Sydney Lake, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2026
  • This was in 2024 and 2025, when the AI craze was in full swing and Claude and ChatGPT adoption was rising.
    — Brian Jenney, IEEE Spectrum, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of rising
Verb
  • My physical study, on the floor, poking at what was there in the open field of the air, led to newfound levels of learning to process, in poems on the page, where my initial feelings of hunger came from.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026
  • In a recent interview with OutKick Dropkick, Hefner was already poking the bear in hopes of getting eyes on his event.
    — Ryan Gaydos OutKick, FOXNews.com, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of poking

Browse Nearby Words

ballooned
ballooning
balloons
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Ballooning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ballooning. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on ballooning

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about ballooning

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of grotesque

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All