Trial-balloon

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of trial balloon. alt-of, alternative

    "If any stronger presumption that his brochure is a trial-balloon of the present ministry be required, it will be found in the pages 19 and 20, wherein Sir Howard Douglas and Mr. Bliss receive a full volley of foul-mouthed Billingsgate."

Synonyms

All synonyms
ballon d'essaibarometerbone of contentioncatechismcross questioncross-interrogatory

Example

More examples

"If any stronger presumption that his brochure is a trial-balloon of the present ministry be required, it will be found in the pages 19 and 20, wherein Sir Howard Douglas and Mr. Bliss receive a full volley of foul-mouthed Billingsgate."

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