ballast
This term describes a stabilizing force that prevents tipping or drifting, whether through physical weight or psychological grounding. In maritime and engineering contexts, it refers to the strategic placement of heavy materials to lower the center of gravity, ensuring a vessel remains upright in turbulent waters.
When used in a psychological sense, it describes a stabilizing influence or habit that keeps a person emotionally balanced during chaos. As a noun, it is typically treated as an uncountable mass when referring to the material itself (like gravel or sand), though it can be countable when referring to specific types or systems of ballast.
Meanings
Heavy material, such as gravel, sand, or iron, placed low in a ship or structure to provide stability and prevent it from tipping.
The ship's captain added more ballast to the hold to handle the rough seas.
Crushed stone or gravel placed around and beneath railway sleepers to provide drainage and support for the tracks.
The maintenance crew replaced the ballast along the main line to improve track stability.
An electrical device used in fluorescent lighting to limit the amount of current in the circuit and provide the starting voltage.
The flickering light was caused by a failing ballast in the ceiling fixture.
Phrasal Verbs
ballast down
to add weight to a structure to ensure it remains firmly in place or stable
The technicians had to ballast down the sensor array to prevent it from shifting in the wind.