balloons

verb

present tense third-person singular of balloon
1
as in increases
to become greater in extent, volume, amount, or number the number of students who stay home sick balloons every winter

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in protrudes
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 balloons Cut with a curved outer seam that balloons slightly through the thigh before tapering at the ankle, the shape is all about creating volume. — Daisy Maldonado, InStyle, 29 Dec. 2025 The mid-rise jeans have an exaggerated barrel silhouette that balloons out at the knee and tapers into a wide-leg fit at the ankle. — Clara McMahon, PEOPLE, 6 Oct. 2025 The specter of inflation will only reappear if the Fed balloons the money supply. — Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 26 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for balloons
  1. increases
  2. protrudes
  3. rises
  4. pokes
  5. swells
  6. bulges
  7. expands
  8. bags
Verb
  • Once the company and its shareholders become accustomed to such a financial boost, an environment where individual guest spending sharply increases even when domestic park attendance is soft or steady, there’s likely no turning back.
    — Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026
  • This concern increases tenfold for flight attendants, as a negative interaction isn’t necessarily fleeting; they may be stuck in the air with rude or disorderly passengers for several hours.
    — Joey Skladany, Travel + Leisure, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of increases
Verb
  • Ping Ping, the male, has dark black circles around his eyes, while Fu Shuang, the female, has a forehead that protrudes a bit, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2026
  • Other animals on-site include a stable full of horses and Cowboy the tortoise, who is about the size of a lawnmower and whose head protrudes from what looks like a Venus flytrap made of bone.
    — Emma Madden, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of protrudes
Verb
  • As the cost of petrochemical feedstocks for virgin synthetics rises by as much as 60 percent or more, the price difference between virgin and bio-based options is getting smaller.
    — Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 5 Oct. 2026
  • As atmospheric carbon rises to levels beyond precedent in human history and consequently raises the global temperature to levels unprecedented on the human scale, the importance of places where carbon is sequestered becomes ever greater.
    — Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of rises
Verb
  • And yet there’s this piece in the policy which pokes its head [and forces them to find a surrogate in Texas].
    — Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The International Kazoo Championship pokes a little fun at the rigidity of the main stage.
    — David Alm, Longreads, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of pokes
Verb
  • But when an event swells to the size of a city — the New York City Marathon had nearly 60,000 finishers last year — climate risk is no longer solely a personal matter.
    — Vibhu Krishna, STAT, 2 Oct. 2026
  • There is an art to stylizing a position of interrogation in excess of its biomechanics, an art to how lockstep beats a cadence while a unit swells into an enveloping arc.
    — Sophie Landres, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of swells
Verb
  • According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a brain aneurysm is a weakened area in an artery that bulges outward and fills with blood.
    — Lucy Notarantonio, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Oct. 2025
Definition of bulges
Verb
  • This strengthens the relationship and expands the partnership between Variety and SCAD, following the hosting of the 2026 class of 10 Animators to Watch at SCAD AnimationFest at its Atlanta campus earlier this month.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 29 Sep. 2026
  • It is funded through the Job Development Investment Grant program, which directs a portion of a JDIG award to the account when a company locates or expands in a Tier 2 or Tier 3 county.
    — Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of expands
Verb
  • Sierra closed his eyes when Rifkin brought the evidence bags up to his attorneys.
    — Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Beabadoobee bags her first chart crown in Australia as Pylon (via Dirty Hit/Inertia) debuts in the top spot.
    — Lars Brandle, Billboard, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of bags

Browse Nearby Words

ballooning
balloons
ballot
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Cite this Entry

“Balloons.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/balloons. Accessed 6 Oct. 2026.

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