ballon d'essai
Americannoun
-
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
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 Mrs. Humphry Ward
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
She was not a ballon d’essai; she was literally the whole show; and if she duplicated the sensational success of poor little Miss Claridge, we had nothing to fear.
From The Maids of Paradise by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
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
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
