BALLAST

Pronunciation (US):

• BALLAST (noun)
  The noun BALLAST has 5 senses:

1. any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship
2. coarse gravel laid to form a bed for streets and railroads
3. an attribute that tends to give stability in character and morals; something that steadies the mind or feelings
4. a resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for changes (as those arising from temperature fluctuations)
5. an electrical device for starting and regulating fluorescent and discharge lamps

  Familiarity information: BALLAST used as a noun is common.

• BALLAST (verb)
  The verb BALLAST has 1 sense:

1. make steady with a ballast

  Familiarity information: BALLAST used as a verb is very rare.

• BALLAST (noun)

Meaning:

Any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("ballast" is a kind of...):

matter; substance (that which has mass and occupies space)

Meaning:

Coarse gravel laid to form a bed for streets and railroads

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("ballast" is a kind of...):

crushed rock; gravel (rock fragments and pebbles)

Meaning:

An attribute that tends to give stability in character and morals; something that steadies the mind or feelings

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("ballast" is a kind of...):

attribute (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of an entity)

Meaning:

A resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for changes (as those arising from temperature fluctuations)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

ballast resistor; barretter; ballast

Hypernyms ("ballast" is a kind of...):

resistance; resistor (an electrical device that resists the flow of electrical current)

Meaning:

An electrical device for starting and regulating fluorescent and discharge lamps

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

light ballast; ballast

Hypernyms ("ballast" is a kind of...):

electrical device (a device that produces or is powered by electricity)

• BALLAST (verb)

Meaning:

Make steady with a ballast

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "ballast" is one way to...):

brace; stabilise; stabilize; steady (support or hold steady and make steadfast, with or as if with a brace)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something