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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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

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 Even after Bretton Woods collapsed and many currencies floated freely, the dollar continued to dominate. — Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Foreign Affairs, 20 Oct. 2026 Ryanair even floated the idea of charging to use the bathroom or getting rid of seats and having passengers stand, though neither took flight. — Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 20 Oct. 2026 OpenAI has reportedly floated the idea of giving the government up to a 5% stake in the company and suggested other leading AI companies do the same. — Sarah Cannon, Fortune, 18 Oct. 2026 Still, Zelensky has floated the idea that such an election could take place only if Ukraine could be given a breather to safely send voters to the ballot box. — Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 15 Oct. 2026 This values the company at around $108 billion—lower than the valuations of over $130 billion floated a year ago. — Priyanka Salve, CNBC, 15 Oct. 2026 The name of the podcast where Kirk floated these ideas was Thoughtcrime. — Odette Yousef, NPR, 15 Oct. 2026 Li also floated the possibility of using the vaccine in patients whose metastatic tumors have already been shrunk by other treatments. — Jason Mast, STAT, 15 Oct. 2026 Zacharia was not as well known to the press corps compared to other candidates whose names were floated for press secretary following the departure of Karoline Leavitt in August. — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 13 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for floated

Verb

Last year, global output for these complex machines hovered around just 9,600 units.

— Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 20 Oct. 2026
As the military-style helicopter hovered above them, attendees from the rural, predominantly Latino community, began to get nervous.

— Philip Wang, Time, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of hovered

Verb

Five burros were killed and a driver was injured when a herd wandered onto the 215 Freeway in 2020.

— Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026
At one point, McLoughlin even snubbed Sylvester Stallone, another Kennedy Center Honoree who had wandered into the bar.

— Marissa R. Moss, Rolling Stone, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of wandered

Verb

Needing 11 yards on fourth down to continue their drive and cut into a 23-7 Packers lead, Prescott narrowly avoided a sack before lofting a pass that sailed out the back of the end zone, not close to any particular Cowboys receiver.

— Andrew Greif, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2026
Yet Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare – senior Tory politician, former athlete, bestselling novelist and bon viveur – simply sailed on.

— The Week UK, TheWeek, 17 Oct. 2026

Definition of sailed

Verb

For the past 15 years, Ishmael Butler and his cast of collaborators have drifted further and further into the outer reaches, deconstructing and reassembling hip-hop, jazz, and kosmische conventions into sprawling, proggy rhapsodies.

— Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 23 Oct. 2026
Meta stock plunged after the hyperscaler drifted into negative free cash flow, while China entered bear market territory with Alibaba’s stock dropping 6%, as investors questioned the return on its AI investments.

— Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of drifted

Verb

Lionel Messi scored two second-half goals 4 minutes apart after a first-half assist, and Inter Miami cruised to a 3-1 victory over Atlanta United on Saturday night.

— ABC News, ABC News, 17 Oct. 2026
The Vegas Golden Knights cruised past the Hawks, as did the Utah Mammoth, while the Buffalo Sabres used a third-period comeback to keep the road team winless.

— Kalen Lumpkins, Chicago Tribune, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of cruised

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float

floated

floating

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“Floated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/floated. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of floated

verb

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