Unballasted

adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Not loaded or stabilised with ballast. not-comparable

    "Then, as if the clouds had discharged their aqueous cargo and rode light as unballasted ships, they lifted in aerial fleets and sailed away, white in a blue sky."

  2. 2
    Unstable, liable to flounder. figuratively, not-comparable

    "It was a rickety concern, was unballasted, and looked as if, loosely thrown together, it had never filled its original mission and had been practically abandoned."

Example

More examples

"Then, as if the clouds had discharged their aqueous cargo and rode light as unballasted ships, they lifted in aerial fleets and sailed away, white in a blue sky."

Etymology

From un- + ballasted.

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