unballasted

un- +‎ ballasted

unballasted (not comparable)

1. (shipping) Not loaded or stabilised with ballast.
   • 1922, Bertrand W. Sinclair, The Hidden Places‎:

     Then, as if the clouds had discharged their aqueous cargo and rode light as unballasted ships, they lifted in aerial fleets and sailed away, white in a blue sky.

2. (figurative) Unstable, liable to flounder.
   • 1908, Allen Chapman, Bart Stirling's Road to Success‎:

     It was a rickety concern, was unballasted, and looked as if, loosely thrown together, it had never filled its original mission and had been practically abandoned.