balloon

[ buh-loon ]

/ bəˈlun /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for: balloon / ballooned on Thesaurus.com

noun

a bag made of thin rubber or other light material, usually brightly colored, inflated with air or with some lighter-than-air gas and used as a children's plaything or as a decoration.

a bag made of a light material, as silk or plastic, filled with heated air or a gas lighter than air, designed to rise and float in the atmosphere and often having a car or gondola attached below for carrying passengers or scientific instruments.

(in drawings, cartoons, etc.) a balloon-shaped outline enclosing words represented as issuing from the mouth of the speaker.

an ornamental ball at the top of a pillar, pier, or the like.

a large, globular wineglass.

Chemistry Now Rare. a round-bottomed flask.

verb (used without object)

to go up or ride in a balloon.

to swell or puff out like a balloon.

to multiply or increase at a rapid rate: Membership has ballooned beyond all expectations.

verb (used with object)

to fill with air; inflate or distend (something) like a balloon.

adjective

puffed out like a balloon: balloon sleeves.

Finance. (of a loan, mortgage, or the like) having a payment at the end of the term that is much bigger than previous ones.

QUIZ

GOOSES. GEESES. I WANT THIS QUIZ ON PLURAL NOUNS!

Test how much you really know about regular and irregular plural nouns with this quiz.

Question 1 of 9

Which of the following nouns has an irregular plural form?

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of balloon

1570–80; <Upper Italian ballone, equivalent to ball(a) (<Langobardic; see ball¹) + -one augmentative suffix; or <Middle French ballon<Upper Italian

OTHER WORDS FROM balloon

bal·loon·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use balloon in a sentence

As the startups that launched on Shopify, like Allbirds and Glossier, have grown up, Shopify’s influence over the e-commerce ecosystem has ballooned.
As its ecosystem grows, companies are becoming reliant on Shopify for more parts of their business|Anna Hensel|November 13, 2020|Digiday
Given that three years have elapsed and that fund sizes have only continued to balloon, and that new partners are usually brought in just before a new fund closes, the firm appears poised to announce an even bigger vehicle any day now.
Former Dropbox CFO Ajay Vashee is joining the powerhouse venture firm IVP in January|Connie Loizos|November 11, 2020|TechCrunch
As the market for enterprise tools and software continues to balloon, organizations are spending more and more on that software across an increasingly complicated and rapidly evolving landscape.
Bootstrapped Clearfind wants to cut your software spend, for a small fee|Jordan Crook|November 11, 2020|TechCrunch
Six years in the making, this gotta-catch-'em-all style adventure game’s beginning is more exciting than I expected after a crash-landing of your hot-air balloon contraption during a storm.
‘Bugsnax’ is charming and funny, but sapped by vexing gameplay|Harold Goldberg|November 9, 2020|Washington Post

Its surface was thick, yet fragile like a balloon, but it was the size of a planet.
What happens when psychedelics make you see God|Sarah Scoles|November 9, 2020|Popular-Science
On the other, you risk ballooning one into the backstop in front of 50,000 people.
Viral Video of the Day: Chrissy Teigen's Drunken Dodger Pitch|Jack Holmes|August 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“I think one interesting facet is how these stars are ballooning without any real traditional [media] support,” Fishman says.
Back Off, B*tches. There’s Only One Butt Selfie Queen|Cheryl Wischhover|May 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Next came an economic downturn, in 1990, coupled with ballooning deficits.
What Barack Obama and George H.W. Bush Have in Common|Andrew Romano|October 27, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Instead, she launched into the now-very familiar GOP talking points about ballooning food stamps rolls and weak jobs reports.
Bill Clinton, Reince Priebus, Ann Coulter, and More Sunday Talk|The Daily Beast Video|September 23, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Since then she has dodged demands from the hotel to settle her ballooning bill, French daily Le Parisien reported.
Saudi Princess Dodges $8m bill|Tom Sykes|June 4, 2012|DAILY BEAST
People are busy ballooning or driving; shooting like stars along railroads; or migrating like swallows or wild-geese.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
Yet here it appears to be the one thing wanting to give success to that despair of aeronauts, military ballooning.
Asbestos|Robert H. Jones
The great spar crashed out to the extent of its arc, and the sail volleyed with it, ballooning under the weight of the wind.
Blow The Man Down|Holman Day
It is a wretched result of the art of ballooning, if it can be turned to no better account than this.
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. IX.--February, 1851.--Vol. II.|Various
Much is still desiderated, in order to the practicability of ballooning as a generally useful art.
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. IX.--February, 1851.--Vol. II.|Various

British Dictionary definitions for balloon

balloon

/ (bəˈluːn) /

noun

an inflatable rubber bag of various sizes, shapes, and colours: usually used as a plaything or party decoration

a large impermeable bag inflated with a lighter-than-air gas, designed to rise and float in the atmosphere. It may have a basket or gondola for carrying passengers, etcSee also barrage balloon, hot-air balloon

a circular or elliptical figure containing the words or thoughts of a character in a cartoon

British

a kick or stroke that propels a ball high into the air
(as modifier)a balloon shot

chem a round-bottomed flask

a large rounded brandy glass

commerce

a large sum paid as an irregular instalment of a loan repayment
(as modifier)a balloon loan

surgery

an inflatable plastic tube used for dilating obstructed blood vessels or parts of the alimentary canal
(as modifier)balloon angioplasty

go down like a lead balloon informal to be completely unsuccessful or unpopular

when the balloon goes up informal when the trouble or action begins

verb

(intr) to go up or fly in a balloon

(intr) to increase or expand significantly and rapidlylosses ballooned to £278 million

to inflate or be inflated; distend; swellthe wind ballooned the sails

(tr) British to propel (a ball) high into the air

Derived forms of balloon

ballooning, nounballoonist, nounballoon-like, adjective

Word Origin for balloon

C16 (in the sense: ball, ball game): from Italian dialect ballone, from balla, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German balla ball 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medical definitions for balloon

balloon

[ bə-lōōn′ ]

An inflatable spherical device that is inserted into a body cavity or structure and distended with air or gas for therapeutic purposes.

Other Idioms and Phrases with balloon

balloon

In addition to the idiom beginning with balloon

balloon goes up, the

also see:

go over (like a lead balloon)
trial balloon

balloon

Origin of balloon

OTHER WORDS FROM balloon

Words related to balloon

How to use balloon in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for balloon

Derived forms of balloon

Word Origin for balloon

Medical definitions for balloon

Other Idioms and Phrases with balloon