flop

noun

plural flops

: a unit of measure for calculating the speed of a computer equal to one floating-point operation per second

Supplied by IBM, with a billion flops (floating point operations per second) and a capacity to expand to 60 billion flops with the addition of other processors and memory, it will be among the 10 most sophisticated computers in the world.

—Eleanor Wilson

—usually used in combination

gigaflop

A GPU [=graphics processing unit] can deliver hundreds of billions of operations per second—some GPUs more than a teraflop, or a trillion operations per second—while requiring only slightly more electrical power and cooling than a CPU.

—Andrea Di Blas et al.

Examples of flop in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For a quick outfit, pair a linen pant with a matching linen shirt and dress down with flat sandals or flip flops. —ABC News, 9 June 2026

It's considered a box office flop, making just over $98 million from a $80 million budget, and its reviews were tepid to say the least. —Sergio Pereira, Space.com, 8 June 2026

She was joined by her sister, Khloe, who wore a simple black tank top paired with black capris and flip flops. —Meg Walters, InStyle, 6 June 2026

Shop Quince Supportive Sandals While sleek flip flops and colorful sneakers are already dominating the trend cycle this season, Jennifer Lawrence is proving that a classic buckle sandal still deserves a spot in your summer shoe rotation. —Rachel Trujillo, PEOPLE, 6 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

floating-point operation

First Known Use

1976, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing flop

• belly flop
• flip-flop
• flop sweat

Rhymes for flop

• bop
• chop
• cop
• crop
• drop
• fop
• hop
• knop
• lop
• mop
• op
• plop

Kids Definition

flop

1 of 2 verb

ˈfläp 

flopped; flopping

1

: to swing or bounce loosely : flap about

a hat brim flopping

2

a

: to throw oneself down in a heavy, clumsy, or relaxed manner

flopped into the chair

b

: to throw or drop suddenly and heavily or noisily

flopped the bundles down with a thud

3

: to fail completely

the play flopped

flop

2 of 2 noun

1

: an act or sound of flopping

2

: a complete failure : dud