English · Idiom Candidate

trial balloon

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

A test of public opinion or reaction to an idea

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

thử nghiệm ý kiến công chúng hoặc phản ứng với một ý tưởng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: a balloon sent up to test the air

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The company released a trial balloon about the new policy to gauge employee response

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “trial balloon” mean?

A test of public opinion or reaction to an idea Literally: a balloon sent up to test the air

Is “trial balloon” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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