ballooning

Pluralballoonings (some meanings)

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The hobby or sport of flying in a hot-air balloon for fun.

   Like riding in a big basket under a giant balloon high in the sky.

   She took up ballooning after watching a festival in the valley.

   Ballooning is a calm way to see the countryside from above.

   Note
2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of balloon. Use this -ing form for action happening right now.

   Prices are ballooning faster than anyone expected this year.

   The crowd kept ballooning as the news spread through town.

   Note
3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of swelling up or growing much bigger quite quickly.

   Like a balloon getting bigger and bigger as it fills with air.

   The sudden ballooning of the dough surprised the young baker.

   Doctors watched closely for any ballooning of the artery wall.

   Similarswelling, expansion, bulging, billowing

   Oppositecontraction

   Note
4. 4
   adjective

   Getting bigger very fast, the way a balloon fills with air.

   Like a balloon that swells bigger and bigger as you keep blowing into it.

   The town faced ballooning costs after the flood hit.

   Their ballooning debts left the family worried at night.

   Similarsoaring

   Oppositeshrinking, dwindling

5. 5
   adjective

   Rising up high into the sky, far above the ground.

   We watched the ballooning kite climb high above the trees.

   The ballooning smoke rose far over the rooftops of the village.

   Similarrising, soaring, floating

   Note
6. 6
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The way some spiders and tiny bugs float through the air on threads of silk.

   Like flying a kite, except the spider is the kite and its silk is the string.

   Young spiders use ballooning to spread to new fields each spring.

   Through ballooning, tiny caterpillars can drift for miles on the wind.

   Note

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