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floated

verb

past tense of float
1
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
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

Example Sentences

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 Icebergs that barely fit into the frame of my wide-angle lens floated past. — Pier Nirandara, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Sep. 2026 Other cast members have floated potentially leaving the show. — Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 21 Sep. 2026 The pay increase for the judges has been floated as part of long-running discussions on improving operations and expanding docket days for the city’s beleaguered municipal court. — Nathan Pilling, Kansas City Star, 21 Sep. 2026 The public statement comes as Plymouth County prosecutors weigh whether to retry Clancy, whose attorneys have also floated the possibility of resolving the case without another jury trial. — Brittany Miller , Adam Sabes , Michael Ruiz, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 2026 That’s why the proposals floated by industry depend upon mutual collaboration and, to an extent, government regulation. — Kaitlyn Huamani, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2026 Thousands of jobs will be lost if Paramount’s corporate headquarters were to shift to Georgia, Tennessee or Texas, three sites reportedly floated by the company. — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 16 Sep. 2026 The idea of associate membership has been floated in the past for Ukraine, or for post-Brexit Britain, but no concrete steps have been taken. — ABC News, 16 Sep. 2026 One potential reason floated to Semafor by market participants is that compute futures could be manipulated to show a sharp drop in the cost of older chips, which might destabilize AI stocks and debt markets. — Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 15 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for floated
  1. hovered
  2. wandered
  3. sailed
  4. roamed
  5. swam
  6. drifted
  7. strolled
  8. cruised
Verb
  • Measles rates in the country hovered around 100 to 300 cases total between 2021 and 2025.
    — Lauren J. Young, Scientific American, 18 Sep. 2026
  • After sailing about half an hour, Choi’s navy yard utility boat slowed and hovered – never fully stopping as the water was far deeper than the length of the anchor.
    — Brad Lendon, CNN Money, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of hovered
Verb
  • Young children go missing all the time, and statistics will tell you that most are found within hours, inside their own homes, or having wandered not much more than a mile away.
    — Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 20 Sep. 2026
  • Other uncommon marine animals have wandered into California waters this year.
    — Fedor Zarkhin, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of wandered
Verb
  • The family sailed on the Lusitania in 1914, a year before a German torpedo sank the ship and killed nearly twelve hundred people.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2026
  • Wearing a headband and a hard look, Chen took a breath and sailed over a man and two motorcycles.
    — Charles Bethea, New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of sailed
Verb
  • For millions of years, Pacific mastodons — huge, hairy relatives of modern elephants — roamed a vast and lush range that included California, Oregon, the northern Rocky Mountains and parts of Mexico.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2026
  • The coyote, known to neighbors as Wendy, roamed a Studio City neighborhood for about a year with an extremely swollen face before wildlife and animal rescue groups captured her last week.
    — Matthew Rodriguez, CBS News, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of roamed
Verb
  • The cast swam in the ocean every day; Buckley and O’Connor hiked the volcano every morning.
    — Alessandra Codinha, Vogue, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Thinking the only safe way to get Sandra out would be by breaking a window, Joe swam through the kitchen and escaped out the back doorway.
    — Ren Larson, ProPublica, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of swam
Verb
  • Sometime after Lizzie and Emma’s estrangement, Nance and Lizzie also drifted apart, and, in 1916, Nance married fellow actor Alfred Hickman.
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2026
  • The ones who hesitate, or answer in generalities about market opportunity, are usually the ones where the practice has drifted furthest from its original purpose.
    — Peter Doyle, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of drifted
Verb
  • With a nod from the person at the desk, we were buzzed out and strolled straight onto the tarmac to mount up.
    — Andrew P. Collins, The Drive, 9 Sep. 2026
  • For the record, the Chorizo strolled home with the win in the Sausage Race, which was mostly jogging.
    — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of strolled
Verb
  • The Wildcats had three of their four takeaways in the first half to pull to a 21-point halftime lead and cruised to a 41-7 victory in Evanston.
    — Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 20 Sep. 2026
  • Quarterback Dante Reno threw for a ridiculous 454 passing yards and five touchdowns as Yale cruised past Holy Cross to open its 153rd football season.
    — Kels Dayton, Hartford Courant, 19 Sep. 2026
Definition of cruised

Browse Nearby Words

float
floated
floating
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Cite this Entry

“Floated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/floated. Accessed 23 Sep. 2026.

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