free-floating
adjective
free-float·ing
ˈfrē-ˈflō-tiŋ 
1
a
: floating freely
free-floating vegetation
b
: lacking specific attachment, direction, or purpose
free-floating ideas
2
: felt as an emotion without apparent cause
free-floating anxiety
Examples of free-floating in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Engineers tested how well electrospray thrusters on the ground performed with ASCENT, using a model cubesat set on a testbed that magnetically suspended a device in a vacuum chamber, simulating the free-floating environment of space.
—
Elizabeth Howell, Space.com, 9 June 2026
Or perhaps the brightening was caused by a free-floating planet (FFP) somewhere in our galaxy, a world ejected from an alien planetary system that could create a PBH-mimicking microlensing event of its own.
—Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 4 June 2026
The film’s unspeakably haunting final shot typifies Cannes 2026 to a tee, its free-floating detachment from reality doubling as a revelatory expression of our own relationship to it.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 22 May 2026
Yesterday in California, the physical world and the world of free-floating grievance and ideological bluster met once again, when two teenagers attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego, killing a security guard and two others, before taking their own lives.
—Juliette Kayyem, The Atlantic, 19 May 2026
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Elizabeth Howell, Space.com, 9 June 2026
Or perhaps the brightening was caused by a free-floating planet (FFP) somewhere in our galaxy, a world ejected from an alien planetary system that could create a PBH-mimicking microlensing event of its own.
—Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 4 June 2026
The film’s unspeakably haunting final shot typifies Cannes 2026 to a tee, its free-floating detachment from reality doubling as a revelatory expression of our own relationship to it.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 22 May 2026
Yesterday in California, the physical world and the world of free-floating grievance and ideological bluster met once again, when two teenagers attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego, killing a security guard and two others, before taking their own lives.
—Juliette Kayyem, The Atlantic, 19 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for free-floating
Cite this Entry
“Free-floating.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/free-floating. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
free-floating
adjective
free-float·ing
ˈfrē-ˈflōt-iŋ
: felt as an emotion without apparent cause
free-floating anxiety
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