ballon d'essai
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ballon d'essai
C19: from French, literally: trial balloon
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Germans would simply use the small offer, not as a ballon d'essai, but as a means of inaugurating direct negotiations.
From Time Magazine Archive
That was a ballon d'essai, as they call it, and they think it was a very happy one.
From Royal Highness by Mann, Thomas
It was to have been a mere joke, a mere ballon d'essai.
From The Master of Mrs. Chilvers by Jerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka)
And in the early morning she had sent her note to Kitty—a ballon d'essai, despatched in a horror of great fear.
From The Marriage of William Ashe by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.
I would send out the thing as a ballon d'essai, to see if anyone would read it for itself, or would detect me underneath the disguise.
From Escape, and Other Essays by Benson, Arthur Christopher
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
