FLOATED Synonyms: 55 Similar and Opposite Words

floated

verb

past tense of float

as in hovered

to rest or move along the surface of a liquid or in the air a canoe floating down the river particles of dust floating in the air

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in wandered

to move about from place to place aimlessly lost touch with a childhood friend who spent much of his adult life floating from place to place

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of floated These collapses have haunted state Assemblymember Tasha Boerner (D-Encinitas), who first floated the idea of an early warning system. — Rosanna Xia, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2026 Anderson Cooper, and Erin Burnett, who is someone that White House officials allegedly floated as someone who could be replaced if new ownership takes over. — Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 14 July 2026 The two that have floated to the top of succession watch-lists are the bank’s co-presidents Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh. — Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 14 July 2026 In her memo, Levine Cava floated reversing course and returning to a bidding process. — Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 14 July 2026 First floated as a concept in 2019, Zero took more than 60,000 hours of research and development to come to fruition. — Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 13 July 2026 At one point on the open sea, a smaller raft that had started to leak floated over, and a mother begged them to take her ten-year-old son. — Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker, 13 July 2026 Co-founder Ray Bobbitt, a local face of the project, has floated the idea of razing the former A’s ballpark and replacing it with a smaller stadium, plus a hotel, retail storefronts and nightlife venues, in addition to housing. — Shomik Mukherjee, Mercury News, 13 July 2026 The ball floated toward the box, over Egypt’s Yasser Ibrahim and toward the head of Enzo Fernández. — Kyle Feldscher, CNN Money, 7 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for floated

Verb

The temperature hit 106 degrees at Chicago’s Midway Airport and hovered between the high 90s and low triple digits for the next five days.

— Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 13 July 2026
Dark clouds hovered around the stadium just before kickoff, threatening to delay the start of the game, but Mother Nature apparently is a soccer fan, because the storm veered away.

— Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 13 July 2026

Definition of hovered

Verb

But on a shady patch under a sprawling river birch, ten teens who had wandered over from Stuyvesant High School assemble themselves into breakout groups to discuss Zohran Mamdani’s recently released housing proposal.

— Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 13 July 2026
The three wandered downtown Culver City, seemingly unsure of where to go.

— Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times, 11 July 2026

Definition of wandered

Verb

Twice England’s post was struck but when Enzo Fernández’s sublime strike sailed past Jordan Pickford in the 85th minute, there only ever felt like one winner.

— Aleks Klosok, CNN Money, 15 July 2026
Mbappé took his last shot in the game’s waning moments, to raucous cheers from the mostly Spanish crowd as the ball sailed over the goalpost.

— Lawrence Dow, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 July 2026

Definition of sailed

Verb

Coyotes, the true American canine, have roamed this continent for more than 2 million years and were venerated by many of those same Indigenous peoples who once made camp in Big Sky.

— Jesse Ashlock, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 July 2026
The plant-eating giant, named Uragasaurus kalasinensis, is believed to have roamed what is now northeast Thailand around 130 million years ago.

— Kayla Hayempour, NBC news, 13 July 2026

Definition of roamed

Verb

In field tests across Lake Geneva, the machine swam through the lake before flapping its wings, breaking the water’s surface, and taking flight into the open air.

— Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 9 July 2026
And none of us have swam in the ocean the same way since!

— Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 20 June 2026

Definition of swam

Verb

In the days before his Ford Bronco drifted into the path of an oncoming semi-truck, Matt Miller was settling debts.

— Alex Andrejev, New York Times, 17 July 2026
Microsoft tied itself tightly to OpenAI through a series of investments, but the two companies drifted and became competing with each other after the abrupt 2023 ousting and reinstatement of OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, with little notice to Nadella.

— Jordan Novet, CNBC, 16 July 2026

Definition of drifted

Verb

In a video that’s racking up millions of views online, a curious bear strolled up to a golf cart at Golden Eagle Golf Club in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, helped itself to a player's golf bag, then casually dragged it away from the tee box.

— Lauren Paige Richeson, USA Today, 17 July 2026
Those Argentina fans strolled past the Monterey apartments on Wornall Road at the perfect time, because Susan Goldenberg was doing one of her weekly porch concerts.

— Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 15 July 2026

Definition of strolled

Verb

Tarik Skubal pitched seven dominant innings, Spencer Torkelson homered twice and drove in four runs, and the Detroit Tigers cruised to a 7-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.

— ABC News, ABC News, 19 July 2026
Tarik Skubal pitched seven dominant innings, Spencer Torkelson homered twice and drove in four runs, and the Detroit Tigers cruised to a 7-0 win over the Angels on Saturday night.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 19 July 2026

Definition of cruised

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float

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floating

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“Floated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/floated. Accessed 21 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of floated

verb

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