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🛶 Staying on water 🛶 Staying on water 🔄 Not fixed 🦴 Not attached 🗳️ Not committed
floating

floating

5.3
A body part that is not firmly attached and can move
  • adjective
  • /ˈfloʊtɪŋ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : flotante (anat.)
  • The doctor explained that my loose tooth was just floating and could be easily removed.

And then I see the toe go, the little toe just floating in the glunk.

Examples

  • During the examination, the physical therapist mentioned that my knee felt floating due to the lack of support.

  • And then I see the toe go, the little toe just floating in the glunk.

    Theo Von Clips

  • After the injury, I noticed my shoulder felt floating and wasn't stable during movement.

Synonyms

adrift
vsfloating
7 4.4

Floating on water without being tied to anything

applies to a loose body part rather than movement on water
unanchored
vsfloating
6.4

Not attached or held in place so it can move

refers to a body part loose or out of its normal position

Idioms

floating in ether
  • Informal
9.9

To feel light and detached from reality like being in a dream

Compounds

floating dock
  • Specialized
1 5.3

A large platform that sinks so a ship can enter then rises to lift the ship for repairs

floating exchange rate
  • Specialized
1 5.2

A system where a currency's value changes because of buying and selling in the market, not set by the government

floating-point operation
  • Specialized
1 6.8

A calculation that uses numbers with decimals often done by a computer

floating bridge
  • Specialized
1 4.2

A temporary bridge that rests on boats or platforms on water

billion floating point operations per second
  • Specialized
4.7

A measure of how many billion math calculations a computer does each second

floating-point representation system
  • Specialized
7.6

A way computers write numbers with decimals using a power to show the decimal point position

floating dry dock
  • Specialized
6.8

A portable structure that sinks so a ship can enter and then lifts it out for repair

floating fern
6.0

A plant that floats on the surface of water, often used in aquariums and ponds

floating mine
  • Specialized
8.2

A bomb that floats on water and explodes when a ship hits it

floating policy
  • Specialized
6.5

Insurance that covers valuable items like jewelry or equipment wherever they are

floating voter
  • Literature
5.6

A person who does not always support the same political party and may choose differently in each election

floating-moss
9.5

A small water plant that floats on the surface of ponds and slow streams

floating-point notation
  • Specialized
6.0

A way to write very large or very small numbers using an exponent so the decimal point can move

floating-point number
  • Specialized
5.6

A number that computers store to show very large or very small values approximately

million floating point operations per second
  • Specialized
4.8

A measure of how fast a computer does one million math calculations each second

trillion floating point operations per second
  • Specialized
4.9

A measure of computer speed equal to one trillion math calculations every second

How Attached

fixed
1.0
attached
3.1
detached
3 3.8
floating
  • Specialized
5.3
loose
155 1.0

Surface Forms

floating positive

Morphology

floating = float (semi-transparent) = float + ing

The sense 'not firmly attached' is a specialized or anatomical extension of 'float' (e.g., 'floating rib') and may not be obvious to all learners.

Etymology

Floating comes from float, which gave the image of 'not fixed' by comparison with things that move on water. So a floating rib or organ is one that is not firmly attached to other bones or parts of the body.