ballon d'essai
Americannoun
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ballons d'essai
plural
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 Thomas Mann
It was not received with universal favour, and, to avert dissension, it was represented as a mere ballon d'essai and was abandoned.
From The Open Secret of Ireland by T. M. (Thomas Michael) Kettle
This little ballon d'essai met the fate of many such, for the manuscript was returned within a fortnight.
From William Hickling Prescott by Harry Thurston Peck
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 Arthur Christopher Benson
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.
