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floe

floe

9 7.0
A large flat piece of ice that floats on the sea or a lake
  • noun
  • /floʊ/
  • UK
translation icon : banquisa
  • Then came another danger, as their floe swayed back and forth, helpless against the force of the waves.
  • an ice floe

Examples

  • If we can climb onto an ice floe behind it, we might be saved.

  • Professor Andrews saw the river below and ice floes slowly floating down it.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • "Jump as I do, as far into the center of the floe as you can.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Can he see the floe?

  • If we can climb onto an ice floe behind it, we might be saved.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • He could land on an ice floe and take off again.

  • Two penguins standing on an ice floe.

  • Dense, large ice floes with fractures dominated the eastern Bering Sea.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Farther out in the strait, large ice floes, wide and flat, glided silently over the water.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Gigantic ice floes shot many meters into the air as the ice reluctantly parted.

    Fiction book (2002)

Synonyms

ice floe
vsfloe
  • UK
5 5.0

A flat piece of frozen water that floats on the sea or large lake

is the same meaning but in a shorter single word form

Compounds

5 5.0

A flat piece of frozen water that floats on the sea or large lake

How Big

pack ice
  • Specialized
2 6.7
ice field
  • UK
3 4.7
floe
  • UK
9 7.0

Surface Forms

floe singular
floes plural

Etymology

The word floe comes from an old Scandinavian word flo meaning 'flood' or 'flow', and is similar to the English word flow. So a floe is a large, flat sheet of ice that floats and moves on the sea, like a slow 'flow' of ice.