Gravel vs. Ballast — What's the Difference?

Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel is classified by particle size range and includes size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments.

Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability.

An unconsolidated mixture of rock fragments or pebbles.

Heavy material that is carried to improve stability or maintain proper trim, as on a ship, or to limit buoyancy, as on a balloon.

(Medicine) The sandlike granular material of urinary calculi.

Coarse gravel or crushed rock laid to form a bed for roads or railroads.

To apply a surface of rock fragments or pebbles to.

The gravel ingredient of concrete.

To confuse; perplex.

Something that gives stability, especially in character.

(Informal) To irritate.

To stabilize or provide with ballast.

(uncountable) Small fragments of rock, used for laying on the beds of roads and railways, and as ballast.

To fill (a railroad bed) with or as if with ballast.

A type or grade of small rocks, differentiated by mineral type, size range, or other characteristics.

(nautical) Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.

A particle from 2 to 64 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.

(figuratively) Anything that steadies emotion or the mind.

Kidney stones; a deposit of small calculous concretions in the kidneys and the urinary or gall bladder; also, the disease of which they are a symptom.

Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads, or in making concrete; track ballast.

A lameness in the foot of a horse, usually caused by an abscess.

(construction) A material, such as aggregate or precast concrete pavers, which employs its mass and the force of gravity to hold single-ply roof membranes in place.

(rare) Inability to see at night; night blindness.

Device used for stabilizing current in an electric circuit (e.g. in a tube lamp supply circuit)

Gravel cycling, a discipline in cycling different from road cycling, mountain biking or cyclocross, for a large part on gravel roads, typically with a dedicated gravel bike

(figurative) That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.

(transitive) To apply a layer of gravel to the surface of a road, etc.

To stabilize or load a ship with ballast.

To puzzle or annoy.

To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track.

To run (as a ship) upon the gravel or beach; to run aground; to cause to stick fast in gravel or sand.

To weigh down with a ballast.

To check or stop; to confound; to perplex.

Any heavy substance, as stone, iron, etc., put into the hold to sink a vessel in the water to such a depth as to prevent capsizing.

To hurt or lame (a horse) by gravel lodged between the shoe and foot.

Any heavy matter put into the car of a balloon to give it steadiness.

Small stones, or fragments of stone; very small pebbles, often intermixed with particles of sand.

Gravel, broken stone, etc., laid in the bed of a railroad to make it firm and solid.

A deposit of small calculous concretions in the kidneys and the urinary or gall bladder; also, the disease of which they are a symptom.

The larger solids, as broken stone or gravel, used in making concrete.

To cover with gravel; as, to gravel a walk.

Fig.: That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.

To run (as a ship) upon the gravel or beach; to run aground; to cause to stick fast in gravel or sand.

To steady, as a vessel, by putting heavy substances in the hold.

To check or stop; to embarrass; to perplex.

To fill in, as the bed of a railroad, with gravel, stone, etc., in order to make it firm and solid.

To hurt or lame (a horse) by gravel lodged between the shoe and foot.

To keep steady; to steady, morally.

Rock fragments and pebbles

Any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship

Cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations;

Coarse gravel laid to form a bed for streets and railroads

Cover with gravel;

An attribute that tends to give stability in character and morals; something that steadies the mind or feelings

Be a mystery or bewildering to;

A resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for changes (as those arising from temperature fluctuations)

Unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound;

An electrical device for starting and regulating fluorescent and discharge lamps

Make steady with a ballast