floater

noun

float·​er ˈflō-tər 

1

a

: one that floats

b

: a person who floats something

2

: a person who votes illegally in various polling places

3

a

: a person without a permanent residence or regular employment

b

: a worker who moves from job to job

especially : one without fixed duties

4

: a pitched, thrown, or hit ball that moves through the air relatively slowly with little or no spin or rotation

5

: a policy insuring specific items of personal property (such as jewelry or art)

6

: a bit of optical debris (such as a dead cell or cell fragment) in the vitreous humor or lens that may be perceived as a spot before the eye

also : a spot in the visual field due to such debris

—usually plural

7

US : floating holiday

Examples of floater in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Mullins made a free throw line jumper in the first half and got going in the second with a floater before seeing his first 3-pointer fall on his fifth attempt of the game as the Huskies went up 24 points. — Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 28 Oct. 2026

With Dallas trailing 21-20 late in the third quarter, Lamb hauled in his second TD on a beautiful 16-yard floater from Prescott in the corner of the end zone. — CBS News, 27 Oct. 2026

New York got it back to 99-96 on Josh Hart's 3-pointer before Queta turned it over, leading to Brunson's floater. — ABC News, 23 Oct. 2026

When Ott was in Cleveland, the system often had just one shooting outlet on most plays, relying on the guards’ floater games and the bigs’ vertical spacing over the top. — Jared Weiss, New York Times, 15 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1717, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for floater

• boater
• coater
• motor
• rotor
• voter
• locomotor
• psychomotor
• servomotor
• vasomotor
• oculomotor
• sensorimotor
• premotor

Medical Definition

floater

noun

float·​er ˈflōt-ər 

: a bit of optical debris (as a dead cell or cell fragment) in the vitreous body or lens that may be perceived as a spot before the eye

also : a spot in the visual field due to such debris

—usually used in plural compare muscae volitantes

Legal Definition

floater

noun

float·​er

1

[from the notion that the policy “floats” with the goods it insures, wherever they might be located] : a policy or supplemental attachment to a policy insuring specific items of personal property (as jewelry or art)

specifically : a policy of insurance to protect against loss or damage of goods in transit or goods (as jewels) naturally subject to use in various places

called also floating policy

2

: a debt security that yields an indexed variable rate of interest

especially : floating rate note at note