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 Ellison floated the idea of having the companies leave California if the suit wasn’t dropped, while states like Texas and Tennessee actively courted the mogul. — Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026 Beckwith, the deputy director and chief curator at the Guggenheim Museum and curator of Documenta16, floated through the room chatting with fellow honorees and guests. — Brianna J. Heath, Footwear News, 6 Oct. 2026 Some of the possible presidential candidates, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, 55, have opted to stay on the sidelines during the midterm elections, while others have sat for press interviews and floated their own names to the media. — Molly Parks, The Washington Examiner, 5 Oct. 2026 Hurts was under pressure on a pass play and floated a pass into the end zone off his back foot. — ABC News, 5 Oct. 2026 Batavia says the gate is causing more traffic on its nearby streets, and has floated the possibility of closing Wagner at the city boundary to force Aurora’s hand. — Molly Morrow, Chicago Tribune, 4 Oct. 2026 The proposal, floated in late 2021, called for three towers rising 480 feet high. — Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel, 2 Oct. 2026 Inspired by an image of Black women displaying their natural hair together, Rice floated the idea of creating something similar in Kansas City. — Kansas City Star, 2 Oct. 2026 Gluons glued quarks together to make protons and neutrons, which floated around as a gas rather than a plasma. — Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, 28 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for floated

Verb

In fact, total non-pensioner benefits have hovered between 4% and 5% for more than 40 years.

— The Week UK, TheWeek, 4 Oct. 2026
Jordan Addison has hovered just below the 1,000-yard mark for two of his previous three seasons.

— Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 4 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

Aubrey's 65-yard attempt with about 30 seconds left in the second quarter sailed wide left.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 5 Oct. 2026
Before its commissioning, the destroyer sailed from Norfolk to Florida and then traveled to Alaska through the Panama Canal.

— Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of sailed

Verb

Officials hope to repopulate vulnerable species Giant pandas once roamed vast swaths of China, northern Myanmar and Vietnam, but their habitats shrank due to human encroachment and climate change.

— Eduardo Cuevas, CNN Money, 28 Sep. 2026
El Adli said the fossils likely belonged to an animal from one of two extinct mammal families that roamed North America during the Uintan North American Land Mammal Age.

— Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of roamed

Verb

More recently, Bushby swam about 184 miles across the Caspian Sea before continuing west toward Europe.

— Deirdre Bardolf, FOXNews.com, 10 Oct. 2026
That includes a robotic ray driven by light-sensitive rat heart cells in 2016 and a fish robot with human heart cells that swam on its own in 2022.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 3 Oct. 2026

Definition of swam

Verb

Republicans hope that by reprising warnings of crime and disorder the party can reenergize their disillusioned base and win back skeptical moderate voters who have drifted over concerns like affordability.

— ABC News, ABC News, 6 Oct. 2026
From there, the group drifted upstairs for dinner at Odo chez Ogata.

— Vogue, Vogue, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of drifted

Verb

Just three days after surgery to remove one of his kidneys, Miller slowly strolled right in — cane in hand — and took a seat with Council, firing off jokes without missing a beat.

— Heidi Finley, Charlotte Observer, 8 Oct. 2026
Fresh off a meeting, Zach Harrison strolled through the Falcons’ locker room and felt his phone buzz.

— Daniel Flick, AJC.com, 3 Oct. 2026

Definition of strolled

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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 12 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of floated

verb

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