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Antonyms for ballast

Grammar : Noun
Spell : bal-uh st
Phonetic Transcription : ˈbæl əst


Definition of ballast

Origin :
  • "heavy material used to steady a ship," 1520s, from Middle English bar "bare" (see bare; in this case "mere") + last "a load, burden," or borrowed from identical terms in North Sea Germanic and Scandinavian (cf. Old Danish barlast, 14c.). "Mere" because not carried for commercial purposes. Dutch balg-last "ballast," literally "belly-load," is a folk-etymology corruption.
  • noun something giving balance
Example sentences :
  • The vessel was in ballast, and had brought money to make her purchases with.
  • Extract from : « Ned Myers » by James Fenimore Cooper
  • You are in the same boat, and we must divide the ballast a little more equally.'
  • Extract from : « Barnaby Rudge » by Charles Dickens
  • Four or five of these busts had been struck into the launch as ballast.
  • Extract from : « Homeward Bound » by James Fenimore Cooper
  • It is a tempest of fancies, and the only ballast I know is a respect to the present hour.
  • Extract from : « Essays, Second Series » by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Will you take me down to the Point when you get the ballast?
  • Extract from : « Little By Little » by William Taylor Adams
  • A gran' thing in a vessel, a bit o' ballast—like religion in a body.
  • Extract from : « Sonnie-Boy's People » by James B. Connolly
  • The great fault in Zinzendorf's character was lack of ballast.
  • Extract from : « History of the Moravian Church » by J. E. Hutton
  • They got into the car, and the bags of ballast were tossed overboard.
  • Extract from : « Frank Merriwell's Bravery » by Burt L. Standish
  • It is valuable as a building stone and as ballast for roadbeds and foundations.
  • Extract from : « An Elementary Study of Chemistry » by William McPherson
  • She had a considerable quantity of ballast in her, composed of pigs of iron.
  • Extract from : « Up the River » by Oliver Optic

Synonyms for ballast

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019