floating

1. 1.

   borne up by or suspended in a liquid

   “the ship is still floating”

   “floating logs”

   “floating seaweed”

   Similarafloat
2. 2.

   continually changing especially as from one abode or occupation to another

   “a drifting double-dealer”

   “the floating population”

   “vagrant hippies of the sixties”

   Synonymsaimlessdriftingvagabondvagrant

   Similarunsettled
3. 3.

   inclined to move or be moved about

   “a floating crap game”

   Similarmobile
4. 4.

   (of a part of the body) not firmly connected; movable or out of normal position

   “floating ribs are not connected with the sternum”

   “a floating kidney”

   Similarunfixed
5. 5.

   not definitely committed to a party or policy

   “floating voters”

   Similaruncommitted

1. 1.

   the act of someone who floats on the water

   Synonymsnatation

   Broaderswimming

   Narrowerdead-man's float

Other forms of floating

plural

floatings·

comparative

floatinger·

superlative

floatingest·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about floating

What does floating mean?

floating means "borne up by or suspended in a liquid". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in floating?

floating has 2 syllables: floa-ting. The stress falls on "floa". In IPA it is /ˈfloʊtɪŋ/.

What is another word for floating?

Close synonyms include aimless, drifting, vagabond, vagrant, natation. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is floating a common word?

floating is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.