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

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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 By Monday, Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark floated mandatory kill switches for AI systems. — Peter Hall, Scientific American, 15 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 White flamingos and red-footed falcons floated above the lagoon, framed by a long strip of dune and beach. — Dexter Filkins, New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2026 Paramount floated shifting its home base to Tennessee or Texas in July, hoping to deter California Atty. — Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2026 Trump has also openly floated taking stakes in the AI companies themselves, extending an interventionist playbook his administration has already used in semiconductors, steel, and other strategic industries. — Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 14 Sep. 2026 Meyer Turku Shipyard in Finland floated out the massive Hero of the Seas last Friday as the ship’s dry dock was filled with more than 90 million gallons of water overnight. — Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 11 Sep. 2026 Many ideas to shore up Social Security and head off benefits cuts have been floated but none have gained enough traction to pass Congress. — Medora Lee, USA Today, 11 Sep. 2026 And, truth be told, this Philadelphia team has floated relatively under the radar for years because championships weren’t expected. — Tony Jones, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for floated

Verb

In the app, Microsoft’s AI assistant, called Copilot, hovered over the page.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
In July, some 300 drones rose beside the 101 freeway and hovered for 15 minutes, forming Angelyne’s face and a telephone number in the night sky.

— Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of hovered

Verb

Talley then wandered out of the media center, looking down at her phone and trying to find her friends.

— Caoimhe O'Neill, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
One of the earliest deaths came in 1926, when a 3-year-old wandered from his home on Narragansett Avenue and fell to his demise.

— Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of wandered

Verb

And a 26-year-old naturalist named Charles Darwin arrived aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Beagle, which had sailed from England nearly four years earlier on a mission to chart South America.

— Michele Metych Britannica Editors Sep. 14, Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Sep. 2026
Tyler Shough’s two-point pass attempt sailed over Noah Fant, allowing Detroit to avoid the near-collapse with a 31-30 victory in overtime.

— Doug Kezirian, New York Times, 14 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

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
All but one happened between June and mid-September as people sat under a tree in a park, swam at the beach and rode bikes through a neighborhood.

— Julia Gomez, USA Today, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of swam

Verb

The Rams did secure one interception on Purdy, when Quentin Lake drifted back into zone and Purdy tried to force a ball to Evans and threw it right at Lake.

— Nate Atkins, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
The impact jostled loose a few petals before the circle of blossoms slowly drifted away on the luminescent blue Bermudian swells.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of drifted

Verb

Braun strolled alongside Sweeney in a pair of beige suede boat shoes.

— Erin Wisti, Footwear News, 4 Sep. 2026
Once the final paddle was raised, the crowd strolled over to the President’s Suite in Arthur Ashe Stadium for dessert, Honey Deuces, and a front row seat to the nail-biting Djokovic-Navone match.

— Paul Chi, Vogue, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of strolled

Verb

On Sunday morning, great clouds covered the tops of the city’s tallest skyscrapers, but the weather cleared up while the mother and daughter cruised together as participants in Bike the Drive.

— Finnegan Belleau, Chicago Tribune, 6 Sep. 2026
The 36-year-old cruised through seven scoreless innings, scattering three hits and three walks while striking out seven batters.

— Jen McCaffrey, New York Times, 6 Sep. 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 17 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of floated

verb

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