How to Use ballast in a Sentence

ballast

1 of 2 noun
  • Some of it was used as ballast to pave the streets of London.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 May 2026
  • At each descent ballast bags were dumped as the balloon crossed the ocean.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Feb. 2023
  • This ballast weight aids the descent; on the bottom, half of it is dropped.
    — Susan Casey, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Aug. 2023
  • The data centers will go in the upper part of each ballast tank.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 3 Mar. 2026
  • At the end of each leg is a ballast that reaches 20 meters deep.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Viewers will yearn for the ballast of clearer insights about the era.
    — Daniel D'addario, Variety, 31 May 2022
  • Have bricks or river rocks concealed out of sight and ready to use as ballasts to hold the cloth in place against winds.
    — Neil Sperry, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Jan. 2026
  • So, does Bitcoin still make sense for someone who wants to sort of have some sort of ballast?
    — Alena Botros, Fortune, 28 Nov. 2022
  • Some of the young women who lived there say the support was critical — ballast in a storm.
    — Johnny Dodd, PEOPLE, 23 Apr. 2026
  • What is not new is having time left on his contract when the contract is viewed somewhat as ballast.
    — Ira Winderman, sun-sentinel.com, 9 June 2021
  • For this is sacred time, time out of time, without ballast or anchor, without leash or link.
    — Joy Williams, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Wakesurfers are inboards with underside props angling deep down when heavy ballast is added.
    — Ron Way, Star Tribune, 19 July 2021
  • Their cars will be fitted with a ballast to compensate for the weight not gained in the absence of a vest.
    — Saajan Jogia, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025
  • The ballast was jettisoned from the portside rather than the rear, and now the journey home will take eight years.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 15 Sep. 2022
  • The Wake makes a predictably small wave compared with the splash of a six-figure boat with ballast tanks.
    — Eric Tingwall, Car and Driver, 17 Mar. 2021
  • No matter how harsh the storm, Powell’s ballast kept him from getting knocked down or blown off course.
    — Christopher Burnham, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2021
  • The submarine blew its ballast tanks, an act that triggered a rapid ascent to the surface.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 4 July 2023
  • Crews were unable to reach equipment to stop the flooding in time, and the ballast tanks failed to work properly.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 17 Mar. 2021
  • Navy divers found 330 packages of cocaine hidden in the boat's ballast tanks.
    — Arkansas Online, 21 Feb. 2026
  • Navy divers found 330 packages of cocaine hidden in the boat’s ballast tanks.
    — Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2026
  • Karl killed the motors and the lights, letting the air, fizzing into the ballast tanks, rocket us to the surface.
    — Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 2 June 2023
  • Many arrived in the ballast tanks of freighters; some were introduced for sportfishing.
    — Tim Folger, National Geographic, 17 Nov. 2020
  • The next step is to close all the hatches and let the water into the water-ballast compartments.
    — Popular Mechanics Editors, Popular Mechanics, 8 Apr. 2021
  • On the ground, a 1-inch ballast pad fits into a standard 9-feet-by-8-feet parking space.
    — Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 June 2023
  • The hope is the new ballast discharge regulations will shut the door to new invasions.
    — Dan Egan, jsonline.com, 2 Sep. 2021
  • The end of each leg contains a ballast that extends to around 20 meters (65 ft) deep.
    — Etiido Uko march 13, New Atlas, 13 Mar. 2026
  • Other invaders arrived by the same route as the spiny water flea, in the ballast tanks of oceangoing freighters.
    — Tim Folger, National Geographic, 2 Dec. 2020
  • In warm layup, most systems are kept functioning; in cold layup more are shut down, such as ballast tanks, turbines, and gear boxes.
    — Fran Golden, Fortune, 11 July 2020
  • Emptying the ballast allows the X24 to go much faster.
    — New Atlas, 29 Aug. 2025
  • It would have been used as cap ballast in an Antetokounmpo trade.
    — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 10 Feb. 2026

ballast

2 of 2 verb
  • Gillis said the new bridge will be ballasted, rather than fixed.
    — Mary Wisniewski, chicagotribune.com, 21 Aug. 2019
  • The levity ballasts his more weighty lines about existing while Black.
    — Stephen Kearse, Pitchfork, 24 Mar. 2026
  • Roughly a third of the structure is submerged and ballasted by 5,000 tons of iron ore.
    — Michael J. Coren, Quartz, 22 June 2019
  • Mottley had reduced the public work force and raised all sorts of taxes to ballast the government’s balance sheet.
    — Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, 27 July 2022
  • Some of that freshness comes from the cast, a cornucopia of effervescent young talent ballasted by a handful of doughty old-timers.
    — New York Times, 23 Dec. 2019
  • The species, which grows to 6 feet long and weighs up to 220 pounds, was prized for its swim bladder, or maw, an organ that helps ballast the animal.
    — Adam Elder, Wired, 16 Apr. 2020
  • Seawater ballasts help with stability and the horizontal surface is layered in solar panels and antennas.
    — Bill Monroe, OregonLive.com, 11 Jan. 2018
  • The subs are built from a variety of materials, but primarily plastics, carbon fiber, and other composites, with a few metal components and some weights to ballast the vessel.
    — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, 9 Aug. 2017
  • Seawater ballasts help with stability and the horizontal surface is layered in solar panels and bristles with antennas and a small wind generator.
    — Bill Monroe, OregonLive.com, 5 Jan. 2018
  • The new 14-track collection ballasts her familiar dreamy, coquettish sound with vulnerability and anguish.
    — Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 22 Aug. 2025
  • There were two-piece yoga sets covered with bomber jackets — all ballasted by Balenciaga’s mech-warrior-size 10XL trainers.
    — Nathan Taylor Pemberton, Rolling Stone, 20 Jan. 2024
  • Longtermists have a remarkably weak appreciation for the zigzags and convulsions of recent history, which MacAskill sometimes blunders into to try and make or ballast a point.
    — Alexander Zaitchik, The New Republic, 24 Oct. 2022
  • Amid that debate, the role of the editorial board is to provide Times readers with a long-range view formed not by one person’s expertise and experience but ballasted by certain institutional values that have evolved across more than 150 years.
    — New York Times, 13 Jan. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ballast.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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