Words / C2

BAL-uh-st/ˈbæləst/

Ballast is heavy material that steadies a ship, or anything that gives stability: take on ballast, intellectual ballast. Weight is everyday; a bulwark (already in the dictionary) is a defensive wall, a cousin of protection rather than of balance. Superfluous (already in the dictionary) extra is the opposite flavour — mass you do not need. A ranking chorus is not the thing that steadies a paper.

Meaning

Heavy material that steadies a ship; also something that gives stability.

Examples

• “A dated n is ballast; a ranking chorus is not.”
• “Weight is everyday. A bulwark is a safeguard (already in C2). Superfluous is useless extra (already in C2) — the contrast. A short methods line can still steady the whole. A motto that never states the cell is decoration. Write the number; then the voyage.”

Good to know

Steadying weight; a stabiliser. Everyday: weight / balance. Close: bulwark (already in C2). Contrast: superfluous (useless extra — already in C2). A chorus is not an n.

Near in meaning

weight, stabiliser, counterweight, anchor

New