floating 1 of 2

adjective

ˈflō-tiŋ How to pronounce floating (audio)
Definition of floatingnext
as in afloat
riding upon the surface of a body of liquid the wreckage remained floating for hours

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

floating

2 of 2

verb

present participle of float
1
as in hovering
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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in wandering
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 floating
Adjective
Social media posts and years of reviewing cookie-cutter luxury hotels had conditioned me to equate floating breakfasts, monogrammed accessories, butler service, and aromatherapy menus as markers of a dreamy luxury vacation. — Katherine Alex Beaven, Travel + Leisure, 22 Oct. 2024 The boat, a single motorboat, was found floating and half-submerged near the Harbor One Marina. — Julia Gomez, USA TODAY, 3 Sep. 2024
Verb
The Sacramento Fire Department said crews responded to reports of a person floating face down in the water. — Richard Ramos, CBS News, 11 Nov. 2026 Some gave up their homes on land entirely, planning to spend their retirement floating about, touring the globe. — Shayla Love, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2026 See All Example Sentences for floating
Recent Examples of Synonyms for floating
  1. afloat
  2. hovering
  3. wandering
  4. sailing
  5. roaming
  6. swimming
  7. drifting
  8. cruising
Adjective
  • Last Ditch received backlash after introducing mask-optional nights to help stay afloat, and has since been thrust into the national spotlight after a Boston Globe story about the bar went viral.
    — Tara Knight, Bon Appetit Magazine, 6 Nov. 2026
  • The district has already cut almost 800 positions over the last two school years to stay afloat.
    — Steven Walker, The Orlando Sentinel, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of afloat
Verb
  • Initial jobless claims showed a modest pop last week after hovering around their lowest levels since the late 1960s.
    — Sean Conlon,Hugh Leask,Jenny Lee,Tanaya Macheel, CNBC, 11 Nov. 2026
  • Even its greater metropolitan population, hovering somewhere between 20 and 25 million, leaves a margin of error larger than many cities.
    — Reif Larsen, Travel + Leisure, 9 Nov. 2026
Definition of hovering
Verb
  • Here in Spring City a few experiences are essential, like digging into crossing-the-bridge noodles (guòqiáo mǐxiàn) and wandering the Dounan flower market, one of the largest in Asia.
    — Megan Spurrell, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Nov. 2026
  • Voters didn’t elect Democrats to play secretive games, to plot and plan in the dark for future moves, or worse — to continue the status quo of wandering around in disarray as Republicans stay in lockstep.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 12 Nov. 2026
Definition of wandering
Verb
  • Seductive aquatic creatures luring sailors to a watery death is a story that pretty much originated with sailing itself.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2026
  • When the Odyssey stopped sailing, the friend had spent less than a month on the ship.
    — Shayla Love, New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of sailing
Verb
  • The pack of dogs had been roaming onto an oil field in Oxnard, traipsing onto private property and walking perilously close to vehicular traffic.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2026
  • The case went cold for six months until a detective recalled calling police about a Black man who was roaming in the Howard Beach neighborhood three months before Vetrano’s death, according to trial testimony.
    — Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of roaming
Verb
  • But the entire process is designed to keep as many of them swimming as possible.
    — Amber Harding OutKick, FOXNews.com, 3 Nov. 2026
  • But here Judd, like Alexander himself, was swimming dead against the increasingly glamorous current of high architecture.
    — Julian Rose, Artforum, 1 Nov. 2026
Definition of swimming
Verb
  • That microbudget indie, directed by Thompson and starring O’Sullivan as a drifting 34-year-old nanny in Chicago, won the Austin festival’s audience award and later earned a John Cassavetes Spirit Award nomination.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 9 Nov. 2026
  • Its pilot repeatedly attempted to activate RTH, but the drone continued drifting with the wind.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 8 Nov. 2026
Definition of drifting
Verb
  • The Villa Vie Odyssey had been cruising the world for at least 755 days as one of only a handful of ships that offered passengers the opportunity to rent or buy long-term or even permanent ​residences on board.
    — Reuters, NBC news, 4 Nov. 2026
  • You may be used to seeing police cars cruising through your neighborhood or helicopters flying overhead.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of cruising

Browse Nearby Words

floated
floating
floats
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Floating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/floating. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Longest Long Words List

The Words of the Week - Nov. 13

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
speech-bubble-untangle
Simplify The Convoluted Expression Quiz A quiz that’s as “uncomplicated as a round de...
See All