balloon

Syllables: bal·loonUK/bəˈluːn/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/bəˈlʉwn/

balloon noun: an inflatable buoyant object, often (but not necessarily) round and flexible.

Image: Benh LIEU SONG ( Flickr ), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

balloon (plural balloons)

An inflatable buoyant object, often (but not necessarily) round and flexible.
Such an object as a child’s toy or party decoration.

Synonyms:

toy balloon
Such an object designed to transport people or equipment through the air.
- We immediately threw out all the little things we had with us, ſuch as biſcuits, apples, &c. and after that one of our oars or wings; but ſtill deſcending, we caſt away the other wing, and then the governail ; having likewiſe had the precaution, for fear of accidents, while the Balloon was filling...1786, John Jeffries, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, A narrative of the two aerial Voyages of Dr. J. with Mons. Blanchard: with meteorological observations and remarks., page 45
A sac inserted into part of the body for therapeutic reasons; such as angioplasty.
A speech bubble.

Synonyms:

speech bubble, fumetto
A wide rounded glass with a stem and foot, used for wine, brandy, etc.

Synonyms:

ballon
A ball or globe on the top of a pillar, church, etc.
- the balloon of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London
A round vessel, usually with a short neck, to hold or receive whatever is distilled; a glass vessel of a spherical form.
(pyrotechnics) A bomb or shell.
(obsolete) A game played with a large inflated ball.
The outline enclosing words represented as coming from the mouth of a pictured figure.
(slang) A woman's breast.

Synonyms:

assets, babylons, balloons, baps, badonkers, bangers, bazongas, bazookas, bazoombas, bazooms
(slang) A small container for illicit drugs made from a condom or the finger of a latex glove, etc.
- And all I had to do in return was take a drive up to Ricardo's place on the way home and then a pretty edgy one back to Rondebosch with a balloon of coke sandwiched between two pairs of underpants.2016, David Cornwell, Like it Matters
Synonym of balloon payment.
- The purpose of the balloon is to reduce the periodic payment required during the life of the financing period.1986, James M. Johnson, Fundamentals of finance for equipment lessors
Synonyms:

balloon payment

Verb

balloon (third-person singular simple present balloons, present participle ballooning, simple past and past participle ballooned)

(intransitive) To increase or expand rapidly.
- His stomach ballooned from eating such a large meal.
- Prices will balloon if we don't act quickly.
(intransitive) To go up or voyage in a balloon.
(transitive) To take up in, or as if in, a balloon.
(transitive) To inflate like a balloon.
- A puff of wind from the open door caught and ballooned the scanties; off they sailed, out the window billowing into freedom.1944, Emily Carr, “Peach Scanties”, in The House of All Sorts
(transitive) To strike (a ball) so that it flies high in the air.
- After four minutes, leading goalscorer Haworth slid in but ballooned the ball over from six yards, and Hume then outran the defence to get to the by-line, but he could only hit his cross straight out.2015, Steve Wilson, A View From The Terraces (part 2, page 138)
Of an aircraft: to plunge alternately up and down.
- The plane ballooned into the air about 20 feet, banging down again for another good-sized hop.1961, Flying Magazine, volume 69, number 3, page 86
Synonyms:

porpoise

balloon meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

balloon in Hindi

inflatable and buoyant object: ग़ुब्बारा ġubbārā, बेलून belūn, बैलून bailūn
child’s toy: ग़ुब्बारा ġubbārā, बेलून belūn, बैलून bailūn
inflatable object to transport people through the air: ग़ुब्बारा ġubbārā

balloon in Tamil

inflatable and buoyant object: ஊதுபை ūtupai
child’s toy: ஊதுபை ūtupai

balloon in Marathi

inflatable and buoyant object: फुगा phugā
child’s toy: फुगा phugā

balloon in Urdu

inflatable and buoyant object: غُبّارَہ ġubbārā
child’s toy: غُبّارَہ ġubbārā
inflatable object to transport people through the air: غُبّارَہ ġubbārā

More languagesFewer languages

balloon in Bengali: বেলুন belun
balloon in Telugu: గాలిబుడగ gālibuḍaga
balloon in Malayalam: ബലൂൺ balūṇ, ബലൂണ് balūṇŭ
balloon in Kannada: ಗಾಳಿಚೆಂಡು gāḷiceṇḍu
balloon in Punjabi: ਭੁਕਾਨਾ bhukānā, ਭੂਪੜਾ bhūpṛā
balloon in Gujarati: ફુગ્ગો phuggo
balloon in Assamese: বেলুন belun
balloon in Nepali: बेलुन beluna
balloon in Tagalog: balun, lobo
balloon in Arabic: نُفَّاخَة nuffāḵa, بَالُون bālōn, مُنْطَاد munṭād
balloon in Malay: belon, gelembungan, gelembung
balloon in Indonesian: balon, balon udara
balloon in Persian: بالون bâlon, بادکنک bâdkonak, بادکُنک bâdkonak, پوقانه puqâne
balloon in Thai: ลูกโป่ง lûuk-bpòong, บัลลูน ban-luun
balloon in Vietnamese: khí cầu, bóng bay, bong bóng, khinh khí cầu
balloon in Myanmar: ပူဖောင်း puhpaung:, စည်ဖောင်း canyhpaung:, မီးပုံးပျံ mi:pum:pyam

Examples of balloon in a sentence

I burst the balloon when I blew it up too much.
The balloon will pop when I stick this pin in it.
I tossed the water balloon and it landed smack-dab on the top of his head.

All 40 example sentences with balloon

Synonyms of balloon

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of balloon

Forms of balloon

Noun
plural	balloons
Verb
third-person singular present	balloons
present participle	ballooning
past participle	ballooned
past	ballooned

Plural of balloon: balloons

Origin of balloon

First use appears c. 1591, "a game played with a large, inflated leather ball" (possibly via Middle French ballon) from Italian pallone (“large ball”) from palla (“ball”), from Lombardic *palla. The Northern Italian form, balla (“ball-shaped bundle”), today a doublet, likely derived from Old French balle, from Frankish *balla (“ball”), and may have influenced the spelling of this word. Both Germanic words are from Proto-Germanic *ballô (“ball”), *balluz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰoln- (“bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, swell, inflate”). Akin to Old High German ballo, bal (“ball”), (German Ballen (“bale”); Ball "ball"). Doublet of ballon. More at ball.

Phrases with balloon

67 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with balloon

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about balloon

What does balloon mean?: Balloon means an inflatable buoyant object, often (but not necessarily) round and flexible.
What is balloon in Hindi?: Balloon in Hindi is ग़ुब्बारा (ġubbārā), बेलून (belūn), बैलून (bailūn). See Balloon meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is balloon?: Balloon can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce balloon?: Balloon is pronounced /bəˈluːn/ (UK).
What is the plural of balloon?: The plural of balloon is balloons.

Words near balloon in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: balloon (page history and authors); ബലൂണ് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ફુગ્ગો (Gujarati) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-balloon.ogg.

Cite this entry: “balloon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/balloon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.