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.
Related Words
Relevance
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 ballast
Other items from the ship, including the ballasts that served as counterweights for the human cargo, are remaining on display and will be returned to South Africa in two years.
—
ABC News, 12 Mar. 2026
The crew reports that a port ballast tank is losing water which suggests some form of hull breach but the ship remains stable and safely afloat.
—CBS News, 5 Mar. 2026
At the end of each leg is a ballast that reaches 20 meters deep.
—IEEE Spectrum, 3 Mar. 2026
Some people regard weed-killers and herbicides as dangerous for consumers and the environment, an attitude lent ballast by lawsuits filed against the makers of Roundup, owned previously by Monsanto and now part of Bayer.
—Brian Steinberg, Variety, 2 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for ballast
ABC News, 12 Mar. 2026
The crew reports that a port ballast tank is losing water which suggests some form of hull breach but the ship remains stable and safely afloat.
—CBS News, 5 Mar. 2026
At the end of each leg is a ballast that reaches 20 meters deep.
—IEEE Spectrum, 3 Mar. 2026
Some people regard weed-killers and herbicides as dangerous for consumers and the environment, an attitude lent ballast by lawsuits filed against the makers of Roundup, owned previously by Monsanto and now part of Bayer.
—Brian Steinberg, Variety, 2 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for ballast
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ballast
Noun
-
The sheriff's office said that the timber-hauling truck was in compliance with all safety measures regarding its cargo, and no criminal or civil charges were anticipated.—
April 3,
CBS News,
3 Apr. 2026
-
The 20-year-old driver was arrested on suspicion of smuggling, and the human cargo was taken to a hospital for injuries suffered during the smuggling attempt, authorities said.—
Jim Radcliffe,
Oc Register,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
In a September petition, the World Shipping Council (WSC) took issue with the section that determined that the FMC could review export freight rates on the grounds that Congress ended the commission’s regulatory oversight over freight rates in 1984.—
Glenn Taylor,
Footwear News,
2 Apr. 2026
-
The site is being divided into several parcels, one destined for a Yokohama-like building with an attached hotel, another for housing, a third for shipping perishable freight.—
Justin Davidson,
Curbed,
1 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Now, Nicasio and other students' work is paying off, giving people a place to take a load off.—
Brady Halbleib,
CBS News,
2 Apr. 2026
-
More income meant more leverage, the thinking went, and more ability to negotiate a fairer split of the cooking, cleaning, laundry, childcare, pet care—the whole to-do list and mental load of running a household.—
Catherina Gioino,
Fortune,
1 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Two loading docks that previously housed trash dumpsters for the older building have been reclaimed as a visualization lab and a robotics lab.—
Edward Keegan,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Apr. 2026
-
Russia’s key Baltic port of Ust-Luga resumed crude loading after days of disruptions amid multiple Ukrainian drone attacks in the region.—
Bloomberg,
Fortune,
5 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The first-stage booster flew for a record-tieng 20th time, but was expended getting the payload to medium-Earth orbit.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
4 Apr. 2026
-
Named after the infamous Japanese suicide pilots of World War II, these kinds of drones can actively hunt for targets, track them, and then ram into them, detonating their explosive payloads.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Cargill built a large soybean-lading facility at Santarem, some 500 miles up the Amazon.—
Edward Lotterman,
Twin Cities,
4 Jan. 2026
-
One example can be as simple as shipments that are missing bills of lading or origin documents.—
Forbes,
Forbes,
1 June 2021
Noun
-
While the federal government made modest contributions to the project under the Obama and Biden administrations, the financial burden fell chiefly on California, and when construction started, the state didn't have the financing to complete the full route.—
Jon Wertheim,
CBS News,
5 Apr. 2026
-
Reservists have significantly borne the burden of Israel’s multi-front war - in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and now Iran - many serving multiple call-ups amounting to hundreds of days in the past two and a half years.—
Tal Shalev,
CNN Money,
5 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
By integrating turbine and ramjet technologies, a concept dating back to the end of World War II, the scientists removed the inactive deadweight and simplified the model.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
31 Mar. 2026
-
The university that once promised to buoy scientific aspirations now feels like a deadweight.—
Katherine J. Wu,
The Atlantic,
16 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ballast.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ballast. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
