free-floating

adjective

free-float·​ing ˈfrē-ˈflō-tiŋ How to pronounce free-floating (audio)
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 Instead of definition, the staging gives us a muddle of free-floating feeling. Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 11 Oct. 2024 In the inner solar system—this side of Jupiter—the proximity of the sun causes both free-floating water and water entrained on bodies like asteroids to flash into vapor. Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 30 Sep. 2024 Among these hundreds of millions of tiny specks of light lurk newborn stars, extremely cold brown dwarfs that only glow at infrared wavelengths, free-floating planets, and globular clusters—groupings containing millions of the Milky Way’s oldest stars in existence. Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 26 Sep. 2024 The X-ray scissors allowed the model to create the effect of redirecting a free-floating asteroid when hit by a series of nuclear-intensity explosions. Greg Wehner, Fox News, 24 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for free-floating 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'free-floating.' 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

1815, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of free-floating was in 1815

Dictionary Entries Near free-floating

Cite this Entry

“Free-floating.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/free-floating. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Medical Definition

free-floating

adjective
free-float·​ing ˈfrē-ˈflōt-iŋ How to pronounce free-floating (audio)
: felt as an emotion without apparent cause
free-floating anxiety

More from Merriam-Webster on free-floating

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!