flopped; flopping
1
: to swing or move loosely : flap
2
: to throw or move oneself in a heavy, clumsy, or relaxed manner
flopped into the chair
3
: to change or turn suddenly
4
: to go to bed
a place to flop at night
5
: to fail completely
the play flopped
: to move or drop heavily or noisily : cause to flop
flopped the bundles down
flopper
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 combinationEleanor Wilsongigaflop
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.
Andrea Di Blas et al.
Synonyms
Examples of flop in a Sentence
Verb
He flopped down onto the bed.
She flopped into the chair with a sigh.
All of their attempts have flopped miserably.
The curtains were flopping around in the breeze.
Noun (1)
The movie was a total flop.
It fell to the ground with a flop.
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Recent Examples on the WebBrian Murphy, Washington Post, 23 Nov. 2023
After a hearty portion of pumpkin pie, most of us want to flop on the couch and watch TV.
—Jen Murphy, WSJ, 23 Nov. 2023
Meanwhile, the Pac-12’s attorney flopped and flailed with poor material.
—Jon Wilner, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Nov. 2023
Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor flopped on the stock market.
—Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 7 Nov. 2023
The film was a box office flop upon release in 1999 but emerged as a cult classic in the years that followed.
—Zack Sharf, Variety, 30 Oct. 2023
The Marvels flopped as the lowest-grossing opening weekend in the 15 years since the release of the original Iron Man.
—Heather Hunter, Washington Examiner, 13 Nov. 2023
The production will be the musical’s first on Broadway since its original 1981 original run flopped after running for only 16 performances.
—Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2023
The House Republicans dropped Jordan as their nominee Friday, after a hardball pressure campaign that resulted in some lawmakers even receiving death threats flopped.
—Compiled By Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2023
Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 27 Nov. 2023
Despite these rare eureka moments, most failures are basic flops.
—Ann Kowal Smith, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2023
Green dreams and extravagant flops The current debates about power generation focus on its environmental impacts rather than on the reliability of the grid that delivers power to homes and businesses.
—William F. Shughart Ii, Fortune, 17 Nov. 2023
Losing that first casual crowd is the difference between an apparent flop and box office domination.
—David Betancourt, Washington Post, 16 Nov. 2023
But the September flop in Las Vegas, which included Spears failing to lip-sync portions of the song, launched scores of theories and even more questions about her fitness to return to the stage — let alone parenthood.
—Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2023
After 41 years, Formula One racing is back in the splashiest of ways with the Las Vegas Grand Prix and a course that runs down the Las Vegas Strip, as opposed to the flop of a first try from 1981-82.
—Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2023
There were a number of money-losing flops so studio executives became increasingly reluctant to risk doing musicals.
—Jack Butler, National Review, 14 Nov. 2023
At 26, he was faced with the worst kind of flop: the public kind.
—Liza Weisstuch, Robb Report, 4 Nov. 2023
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Verb
Carter, however, apparently thought the whole thing flopped.
—Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 23 Nov. 2023
After a hearty portion of pumpkin pie, most of us want to flop on the couch and watch TV.
—Jen Murphy, WSJ, 23 Nov. 2023
Meanwhile, the Pac-12’s attorney flopped and flailed with poor material.
—Jon Wilner, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Nov. 2023
Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor flopped on the stock market.
—Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 7 Nov. 2023
The film was a box office flop upon release in 1999 but emerged as a cult classic in the years that followed.
—Zack Sharf, Variety, 30 Oct. 2023
The Marvels flopped as the lowest-grossing opening weekend in the 15 years since the release of the original Iron Man.
—Heather Hunter, Washington Examiner, 13 Nov. 2023
The production will be the musical’s first on Broadway since its original 1981 original run flopped after running for only 16 performances.
—Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2023
The House Republicans dropped Jordan as their nominee Friday, after a hardball pressure campaign that resulted in some lawmakers even receiving death threats flopped.
—Compiled By Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2023
Noun
Some of Disney’s modest successes or outright flops would be classified as smashes for its rivals.
—Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 27 Nov. 2023
Despite these rare eureka moments, most failures are basic flops.
—Ann Kowal Smith, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2023
Green dreams and extravagant flops The current debates about power generation focus on its environmental impacts rather than on the reliability of the grid that delivers power to homes and businesses.
—William F. Shughart Ii, Fortune, 17 Nov. 2023
Losing that first casual crowd is the difference between an apparent flop and box office domination.
—David Betancourt, Washington Post, 16 Nov. 2023
But the September flop in Las Vegas, which included Spears failing to lip-sync portions of the song, launched scores of theories and even more questions about her fitness to return to the stage — let alone parenthood.
—Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2023
After 41 years, Formula One racing is back in the splashiest of ways with the Las Vegas Grand Prix and a course that runs down the Las Vegas Strip, as opposed to the flop of a first try from 1981-82.
—Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2023
There were a number of money-losing flops so studio executives became increasingly reluctant to risk doing musicals.
—Jack Butler, National Review, 14 Nov. 2023
At 26, he was faced with the worst kind of flop: the public kind.
—Liza Weisstuch, Robb Report, 4 Nov. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flop.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
Verb
1602, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1
Adverb
1728, in the meaning defined above
Noun (1)
1823, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Noun (2)
1976, in the meaning defined above
Phrases Containing flop
Dictionary Entries Near flop
Cite this Entry
“Flop.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flop. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.
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Kids Definition
flop
1 of 2 verb
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 noun1
: an act or sound of flopping
2
: a complete failure : dud
More from Merriam-Webster on flop
Nglish: Translation of flop for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of flop for Arabic Speakers
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