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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

ballast.

Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈbæl.əst/Received-Pronunciation, US
  1. Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.

    uncountable · usually
  2. Anything that steadies emotion or the mind.

    figuratively · uncountable · usually
  3. Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads, or in making concrete; track ballast.

    uncountable · usually
  4. A material, such as aggregate or precast concrete pavers, which employs its mass and the force of gravity to hold single-ply roof membranes in place.

    uncountable · usually
  5. A material, such as aggregate or precast concrete pavers, which employs its mass and the force of gravity to hold single-ply roof membranes in place. Loose stone or big gravel used to hold rails and tracks in place.

    uncountable · usually
  6. device used for stabilizing current in an electric circuit (e.g. in a tube lamp supply circuit)

    countable · usually
  7. That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.

    figuratively · uncountable · usually
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bar (“bare”) + last (“load”).

verb/ˈbæl.əst/Received-Pronunciation, US
  1. To stabilize or load a ship with ballast.

    transitive
  2. To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track.

    transitive
  3. To weigh down with a ballast.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bar (“bare”) + last (“load”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.