View synonyms for ballon d'essai

ballon d'essai

[ ba-lawn de-se ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, French.

, plural bal·lons d'es·sai [b, a, -law, n, de-, se].

ballon d'essai

/ bæˈlõ dɛˈseɪ /

See trial balloon
a project or policy put forward experimentally to gauge reactions to it Compare trial balloon

C19: from French, literally: trial balloon

And in the early morning she had sent her note to Kitty—a ballon d'essai, despatched in a horror of great fear.

In the autumn of 1916 the newspapers put forth a ballon d'essai.

This is no doubt what is technically known as a ballon d'essai.

That was a ballon d'essai, as they call it, and they think it was a very happy one.

April 23, 2024inveterate

[in-vet-er-it ]

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