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
Scientists were trying to locate free-floating oil during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill when large patches of seaweed kept appearing as false positives in the data.
—
Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald, 13 May 2026
But the key to making this work is a free-floating efficiency parameter – a dial that controls the strength of the outburst.
—Paul Sutter, Space.com, 3 May 2026
Once an unnamed boy (Naru Asanuma) shows up and the Lost Man realizes that this mysterious kid is not an anomaly, Exit 8 begins to adds elements of pathos and paternal anxiety to its free-floating paranoia.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 10 Apr. 2026
But she is most heavily influenced, the film suggests, by the sheer ubiquity of school shootings and gun culture, which has contaminated America at large with a free-floating psychic residue of mass violence.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 2 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for free-floating
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Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald, 13 May 2026
But the key to making this work is a free-floating efficiency parameter – a dial that controls the strength of the outburst.
—Paul Sutter, Space.com, 3 May 2026
Once an unnamed boy (Naru Asanuma) shows up and the Lost Man realizes that this mysterious kid is not an anomaly, Exit 8 begins to adds elements of pathos and paternal anxiety to its free-floating paranoia.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 10 Apr. 2026
But she is most heavily influenced, the film suggests, by the sheer ubiquity of school shootings and gun culture, which has contaminated America at large with a free-floating psychic residue of mass violence.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 2 Apr. 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 May. 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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