floating

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfloʊtɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfləʊtɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -əʊtɪŋ

Adjective

floating (not comparable)

1. That floats or float.

   floating buoys

2. Not fixed in position, opinion etc.; free to move or drift.

   The outcome of the forthcoming election is still unclear due to the large number of floating voters.

   In China, the large floating population has tended to gravitate to cities.

   You can drag the floating toolbars to any position on the screen.

   • 1831, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Romance and Reality, volume 2, page 198:

     "And I am much mistaken if she has not some floating fancy of her own."

3. (linguistics, of a tone) that is not attached to any consonant or vowel within its morpheme.

Derived terms

• floating dock
• floating feeling
• floating island
• floating kidney
• floating point, floating-point
• floating object
• floating rib
• floating vote
• floating voter

 

Translations

that floats

• Ainu: アモㇺカ (amomka)
• Bulgarian: плаващ (bg) (plavašt)
• Catalan: flotant (ca), surant
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 漂浮的 (zh) (piāofúde)

• Finnish: kelluva (fi)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: πλωτός (plōtós)

• Romanian: plutitor (ro), flotant (ro)
• Spanish: flotante (es)

not fixed

• Bulgarian: променлив (bg) (promenliv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 浮動的 (zh), 浮动的 (zh) (fúdòngde)

• Finnish: liikkuva (fi)
• Maori: māngina (of an opinion, undecided), mōngina (of an opinion, undecided)
• Romanian: flotant (ro)

Verb

floating

1. present participle of float

Noun

floating (plural floatings)

1. The motion of something that floats.
2. (in the plural) Material that floats in a liquid.
   • 1898, Journal of Microscopy (page 256)

     Plastic mud, brownish tinted, rich in floatings.

3. The spreading of plaster on the surface of walls.

Anagrams

• antigolf