Make Your Point: BALLAST

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pronounce BALLAST:

BAL ust

Hear it.

connect this word to others:

You like a good optimistic seafaring metaphor, right? Did you know we have a list going of optimistic seafaring metaphors?

Well, we do! Let's add the word ballast to it!

Here are some others on the list:

1. If you're b_____t, your spirit is so light that it seems to float, like a buoy bobbing in the water.

2. and 3. If you have an anchor, you have a strong, secure tie to something, as if you've parked your ship in the water. Similarly, if you have a b_____d, you have something strong and steady that keeps you safe, as if you've tied your ship to the store.

4. If you have a lo____ar, you have something bright, high, strong, and steady that guides you through life, like a star to steer your ship by.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

Our word "ballast" comes from a Middle English word that literally means "a mere load, or a mere burden."

When you have some ballast, or when you use something for ballast, you have something heavy that helps keep you steady and balanced as you travel.

It might be because you're on a ship, or in a hot air balloon, which you need to keep upright and steady and moving forward.

Or if the ballast is figurative, it might be because you're in some difficult, emotional situation, and you need to keep yourself upright and steady and moving forward.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, often the uncountable kind ("It provides ballast") but also the countable kind ("It provides a ballast").

Other forms:

"Ballast" can work like an adjective in phrases like "ballast bag" and "ballast stone."

It's also a verb! You can ballast something, which can literally mean that you balance it out with weights. Here's E. B. White: "Stuart... ballasted the canoe with the stones until it floated evenly and steadily." To ballast something can also mean to keep it steady in a figurative way. Here's James Fenimore Cooper: "They are no longer ballasted by religion."

how to use it:

"Ballast" is a relatively common word and a wonderfully visual metaphor. Call something your ballast when it helps you stay safe, calm, normal, secure, or productive enough to live your life without getting lost, or capsizing, or drowning, so to speak.

Compared to the word "anchor," "ballast" helps you emphasize stability during movement, or progress. That is, your ballast is whatever keeps you steady and keeps you moving forward.

Say that something is ballast, or provides ballast, or works as ballast for someone or for someone's life, mind, mission, career, creativity, etc. Here's Michelle Obama: "Books... were like sacred objects, providing ballast for his mind."

examples:

"A network of pumps and valves shift liquid ballast between the three floating cylinders to rebalance the platform and set the turbine at the ideal angle for the wind."
— Justin Rowlatt, BBC, 20 October 2022

"I race downstairs to the laundry room... I turn on the tap, lean over the sink, and guzzle until my belly is a big water balloon. I sail on the tide toward the kitchen, heavy-loaded with ballast, waves splashing."
— Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls, 2009

"The more of that worthless ballast, honour and fair-dealing, which any man cast overboard from the ship of his Good Name and Good Intent, the more ample stowage-room he had for dollars."
— Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, 1843

has this page helped you understand "ballast"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "ballast" without saying "weight" or "support."

try it out:

From J. D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, check out this figurative example:

"'The cigars are ballast, sweetheart. Sheer ballast. If he didn’t have a cigar to hold on to, his feet would leave the ground. We'd never see our Zooey again.'"

Talk about what that means: what do the cigars do for this character Zooey? Can you identify with him at all: is there some kind of object, food, drink, habit, or even person who provides you with ballast in daily life?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for June is "Happy Stories in Hidden Cities."

I'll give you a sentence from a happy news story, along with a long word that contains all the letters, in order, of the name of the city in which the story takes place. And you give me the city.

Here's an example:

"A puppy was excited to experience his first-ever snowfall on Friday, November 11, after a winter storm swept through the area." FARRAGO.

The answer here is "Fargo," the city where this story takes place. You can spot the name FARGO inside FARRAGO.

Try this one today:

"The [local] Animal Welfare Association is now using Tinder to post profiles of adoptable pets, and lonely humans are swiping right." MOUNTAIN-ECHO.

To see the answer, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. Opposites of the BALLAST, the verb, include

A. POP, SPOIL, and DEFLATE.
B. URGE, IMPEL, and LOCOMOTE.
C. TILT, DESTABILIZE, and TEMPEST-TOSS.

2. In Neal Shusterman's Challenger Deep, people who serve as ballast remain "_____."

A. in the bathyscaphe overnight, keeping it warm for the day crew
B. in the cargo hold like sardines, in order to lower the ship's center of gravity
C. in the theater for every show, clapping and laughing like fools to generate excitement

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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