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 bay, around the first bend from the lodge, is separated from the main lake by a railroad causeway built of ballast.
—
Don Shiner, Outdoor Life, 14 May 2025
The long passages of banal detail in Murakami’s fiction are a sort of ballast, anchoring his precipitous swerves into the fantastic.
—Bailey Trela, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
Yes, in a perfect world, there would not be the salary ballast of Terry Rozier and Duncan Robinson, or, at this point, even Kevin Love.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 21 May 2025
In the face of global economic uncertainty, erratic equity markets and geopolitical tension, including the escalating tariff landscapes, that ballast matters.
—Spencer Elliott, Forbes.com, 23 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ballast
Don Shiner, Outdoor Life, 14 May 2025
The long passages of banal detail in Murakami’s fiction are a sort of ballast, anchoring his precipitous swerves into the fantastic.
—Bailey Trela, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
Yes, in a perfect world, there would not be the salary ballast of Terry Rozier and Duncan Robinson, or, at this point, even Kevin Love.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 21 May 2025
In the face of global economic uncertainty, erratic equity markets and geopolitical tension, including the escalating tariff landscapes, that ballast matters.
—Spencer Elliott, Forbes.com, 23 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ballast
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ballast
Noun
-
Weighing approximately 81 lbs (37 kg), the Jumper Go supports a maximum payload of 450 lbs (204 kg), including a rear rack capable of carrying up to 150 lbs (68 kg) of cargo.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
11 July 2025
-
With fewer Chinese cargo expected to enter the U.S. in August into the fall months, ocean carriers will be monitoring capacity levels to hold rates up.—
Glenn Taylor,
Sourcing Journal,
10 July 2025
Noun
-
These imports will only be allowed entry into India using ocean freight via the Nhava Sheva Port (also known as Jawaharlal Nehru Port) in Mumbai.—
Glenn Taylor,
Sourcing Journal,
3 July 2025
-
By law, interstate freight truck drivers cannot exceed 11 hours on the road.—
Matthew Adams,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
3 July 2025
Noun
-
Large scale battery storage deployments nearly doubled last year to 30 gigawatts nationwide due to demand from solar projects to balance intermittent loads.—
Christopher Helman,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2025
-
By integrating route planning, safety compliance, document processing, and real-time load visibility, platforms like this offer smaller carriers the kind of operational backbone typically reserved for national fleets.—
Connie Etemadi,
USA Today,
30 June 2025
Noun
-
Security analysts assume that such explosions are related to the vessel's recent loading at Russian oil export facilities; however, Lloyd's List said that there is no hard evidence to support these theories, making vessel risk assessments difficult for shipowners and operators.—
Brendan Cole
John Feng,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 July 2025
-
Driving, being in control of all these pallets of Guinness and stacking them, loading [semis] that were going out to various pubs in Northern Ireland.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
8 July 2025
Noun
-
The Israeli Air Force handled Iran's air defense system with ease, so much so that Israeli pilots established air superiority over the country and greased the skids for U.S. B-2 bombers to drop their 30,000-pound payloads on two of Iran's main nuclear facilities at Natanz and Fordow.—
Daniel R. DePetris,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 July 2025
-
Then, once the skies were cleared, Israel used its crewed aircraft to strike targets such as the Natanz nuclear facility with an accuracy and payload beyond drones’ capability.—
Michael C. Horowitz,
Foreign Affairs,
4 July 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
-
That’s a burden for working students who balance jobs with education.—
Leadership Brainery,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2025
-
Funding Changes Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees the program, are proposing to shift more of the financial burden for the food stamps program onto states.—
Aliss Higham,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 June 2025
Noun
-
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
-
Thus, Ockham's razor cuts loose the deadweight of the theory, leaving it with only the necessary pieces of explanation.—
Julius Černiauskas,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ballast.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ballast. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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