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

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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
Some apps looked like floating windows in the middle of the tablet-sized screen. — Lisa Eadicicco, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2026 But then, in 2019, the team heard about Hamas floating incendiary balloons over the border. — Margaux MacColl, Vanity Fair, 21 Oct. 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
  • Others clung onto one another, buoys and pieces of wreckage, shivering and treading water to stay afloat.
    — Jaimie Ding, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Its advocacy work remained limited, largely because its board members were all working to keep their own arts organizations, including several of the state’s eight Direct Regional Service Organizations, or DRSOs, financially afloat.
    — Lucy Gellman, Hartford Courant, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of afloat
Verb
  • So nothing can dissipate the cloud of suspicion hovering over Attorney General James Uthmeier.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Compare that to the country’s overall unemployment rate, which is hovering around 4%.
    — John Gill, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of hovering
Verb
  • It is said that Hannah’s ghost is fond of wandering Spring Hill Road.
    — Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 22 Oct. 2026
  • This formation process also means that brown dwarfs are cosmic loners, wandering the darkness of space alone, bereft of the light of a parent star.
    — Robert Lea, Space.com, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of wandering
Verb
  • Charging infrastructure at ports would supply the electricity needed for operation, allowing the concept to avoid direct carbon emissions while sailing.
    — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Chuck Zimmerman, who is described by his supporters as a Navy veteran who was intercepted by the Russian navy while sailing in international waters.
    — Ivana Kottasová, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of sailing
Verb
  • The experiment goes wrong, the Farmer disappears and a large, hairy creature begins roaming the woods around Mossingham.
    — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2026
  • What’s most notable is the number of young people roaming around the market well before the crack of dawn, Chris says.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of roaming
Verb
  • It’s estimated about 25% of the sunscreen people apply to their skin washes off while swimming or wading in the ocean.
    — Matthew Perrone, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026
  • For twenty years, McCarthy has been swimming against the current, writing novels that reflect, with unusual intensity, his disdain for the conventional underpinnings of literary fiction.
    — Max Callimanopulos, New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of swimming
Verb
  • Three-times married, his was to be a literary career pock-marked by substance abuse issues leading to a peripatetic existence drifting from one august institution to another.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Toxic haze has covered parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for weeks as Jakarta struggles to contain fires that have scorched large tracts of Borneo and Sumatra, with the smoke drifting across the region.
    — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of drifting
Verb
  • Gazza, who has been cruising along all episode, doesn’t bowl the judges over with his treacle pudding or his Black Forest gâteau, which is a little bit shocking.
    — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 23 Oct. 2026
  • If Mick hadn’t come cruising into that playground, lights off?
    — George Saunders, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of cruising

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Cite this Entry

“Floating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/floating. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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