Aerostat

noun

noun ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An aircraft, such as a dirigible or balloon, that derives its lift from buoyancy rather than from wings or rotors.

    "With its molten temperatures, sulphuric acid clouds, and crushing carbon dioxide atmosphere, Venus has only a handful of aerostat research outposts."

  2. 2
    A moored balloon flown in a semi-permanent manner, such as a border patrol monitoring balloon affixed at 18,000 feet (~6 km).

Synonyms

All synonyms
airshipballoonblimpgasbaglighter than air craftship

Example

More examples

"With its molten temperatures, sulphuric acid clouds, and crushing carbon dioxide atmosphere, Venus has only a handful of aerostat research outposts."

Etymology

Borrowed from French aérostat, from Ancient Greek ἀήρ (aḗr, “air”) + στατός (statós, “stable”), equivalent to aero- + -stat.

Related phrases

tethered aerostat

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.