| / English Dictionary |
AFLOAT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Borne on the water; floating
Classified under:
Similar:
adrift (afloat on the surface of a body of water)
floating (borne up by or suspended in a liquid)
waterborne (supported by water)
Antonym:
aground (stuck in a place where a ship can no longer float)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Covered with water
Example:
an overflowing tub
Synonyms:
afloat; awash; flooded; inundated; overflowing
Classified under:
Similar:
full (containing as much or as many as is possible or normal)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Aimlessly drifting
Synonyms:
adrift; afloat; aimless; directionless; planless; rudderless; undirected
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
purposeless (not evidencing any purpose or goal)
Context examples:
Thus it came about, that I heard of his making little treats for the fishermen at Mr. Peggotty's house of call, The Willing Mind, after I was in bed, and of his being afloat, wrapped in fishermen's clothes, whole moonlight nights, and coming back when the morning tide was at flood.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
When you think that in the last year of the war we had 140,000 seamen and mariners afloat, commanded by 4000 officers, and that half of these had been turned adrift when the Peace of Amiens laid their ships up in the Hamoaze or Portsdown creek, you will understand that London, as well as the dockyard towns, was full of seafarers.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Had it not been my custom to run up to see him every Saturday afternoon and to stop over till Monday morning, this particular January Monday morning would not have found me afloat on San Francisco Bay.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
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