Word.ws English Dictionary

ballon d'essai

UK/ˌbalɒ̃ dɛˈseɪ/

ballon d'essai noun: a policy put forward to test reactions; something designed to test the waters, an experimental measure.

Noun

ballon d'essai (plural ballons d'essai)

  1. A policy put forward to test reactions; something designed to test the waters, an experimental measure.
    • James II may even have planned the reintroduction of the ceremony, for in his reign the old order of service was resurrected and issued in print, as a ballon d'essai, though the Revolution prevented matters being taken any further.1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 193

Forms of ballon d'essai

pluralballons d'essai

Origin of ballon d'essai

Borrowed from French ballon d'essai.

Questions about ballon d'essai

What does ballon d'essai mean?
Ballon d'essai means a policy put forward to test reactions; something designed to test the waters, an experimental measure.
What part of speech is ballon d'essai?
Ballon d'essai is a noun.
How do you pronounce ballon d'essai?
Ballon d'essai is pronounced /ˌbalɒ̃ dɛˈseɪ/ (UK).
What is the plural of ballon d'essai?
The plural of ballon d'essai is ballons d'essai.

Words near ballon d'essai in the dictionary

  1. ballocksed
  2. ballockses
  3. ballocksing
  4. ballogan
  5. ballon
  6. ballon d'essai
  7. Ballon d'Or
  8. Ballon d'Ors
  9. ballonet
  10. ballonets
  11. ballonigrin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ballon d'essai (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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