/ English Dictionary

FLOAT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An air-filled sac near the spinal column in many fishes that helps maintain buoyancy

Synonyms:

air bladder; float; swim bladder

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("float" is a kind of...):

sac (a structure resembling a bag in an animal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something that floats on the surface of water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("float" is a kind of...):

artefact; artifact (a man-made object taken as a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "float"):

bob; bobber; bobfloat; cork (a small float usually made of cork; attached to a fishing line)

chip (a triangular wooden float attached to the end of a log line)

flotation device; life preserver; preserver (rescue equipment consisting of a buoyant belt or jacket to keep a person from drowning)

pontoon (a float supporting a seaplane)

raft (a flat float (usually made of logs or planks) that can be used for transport or as a platform for swimmers)

Derivation:

float (put into the water)

float (set afloat)

float (be afloat either on or below a liquid surface and not sink to the bottom)

floaty (tending to float on a liquid or rise in air or gas)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A hand tool with a flat face used for smoothing and finishing the surface of plaster or cement or stucco

Synonyms:

float; plasterer's float

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("float" is a kind of...):

hand tool (a tool used with workers' hands)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An elaborate display mounted on a platform carried by a truck (or pulled by a truck) in a procession or parade

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("float" is a kind of...):

display; presentation (a visual representation of something)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A drink with ice cream floating in it

Synonyms:

float; ice-cream float; ice-cream soda

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("float" is a kind of...):

drink (a single serving of a beverage)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "float"):

root beer float (an ice-cream soda made with ice cream floating in root beer)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The number of shares outstanding and available for trading by the public

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("float" is a kind of...):

stock (the capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares entitling holders to an ownership interest (equity))

Sense 7

Meaning:

The time interval between the deposit of a check in a bank and its payment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("float" is a kind of...):

interval; time interval (a definite length of time marked off by two instants)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Convert from a fixed point notation to a floating point notation

Example:

float data

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "float" is one way to...):

change over; convert (change from one system to another or to a new plan or policy)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Allow (currencies) to fluctuate

Example:

The government floated the ruble for a few months

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "float" is one way to...):

value (fix or determine the value of; assign a value to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make the surface of level or smooth

Example:

float the plaster

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "float" is one way to...):

smooth; smoothen (make smooth or smoother, as if by rubbing)

Domain category:

masonry (the craft of a mason)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Put into the water

Example:

float a ship

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "float" is one way to...):

launch (propel with force)

Verb group:

float (set afloat)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

float (something that floats on the surface of water)

floatation; flotation (the phenomenon of floating (remaining on the surface of a liquid without sinking))

Sense 5

Meaning:

Move lightly, as if suspended

Example:

The dancer floated across the stage

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "float" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

float; swim (be afloat either on or below a liquid surface and not sink to the bottom)

be adrift; blow; drift; float (be in motion due to some air or water current)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "float"):

ride (be sustained or supported or borne)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 6

Meaning:

Set afloat

Example:

The boy floated his toy boat on the pond

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "float" is one way to...):

transport (move something or somebody around; usually over long distances)

Verb group:

float (put into the water)

float; swim (be afloat either on or below a liquid surface and not sink to the bottom)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "float"):

tide (cause to float with the tide)

drift (cause to be carried by a current)

refloat (set afloat again)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The girls float the wooden sticks

Derivation:

flotation; floatation (the phenomenon of floating (remaining on the surface of a liquid without sinking))

float (something that floats on the surface of water)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Be in motion due to some air or water current

Example:

the shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore

Synonyms:

be adrift; blow; drift; float

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "float" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

drift (cause to be carried by a current)

float (move lightly, as if suspended)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "float"):

waft (be driven or carried along, as by the air)

tide (be carried with the tide)

stream (to extend, wave or float outward, as if in the wind)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 8

Meaning:

Be afloat either on or below a liquid surface and not sink to the bottom

Synonyms:

float; swim

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "float" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

float (move lightly, as if suspended)

float (set afloat)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "float"):

buoy (float on the surface of water)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

These cars won't float

Antonym:

sink (go under)

Derivation:

float (something that floats on the surface of water)

floatation (the phenomenon of floating (remaining on the surface of a liquid without sinking))

floater (an object that floats or is capable of floating)

floater (a swimmer who floats in the water)

floating (the act of someone who floats on the water)

flotation (the phenomenon of floating (remaining on the surface of a liquid without sinking))

Sense 9

Meaning:

Circulate or discuss tentatively; test the waters with

Example:

The Republicans are floating the idea of a tax reform

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "float" is one way to...):

essay; examine; prove; test; try; try out (put to the test, as for its quality, or give experimental use to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

The Ross Ice Shelf, a part of the Antarctic Ice Sheet that is floating on the ocean, measures several hundred meters thick and covers more than 480,000 square kilometers, approximately the size of Spain.

(Study in Antarctic waters reveals why Ross Ice Shelf melts in summer, National Science Foundation)

The world's largest collection of ocean garbage floating in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Hawaii and California, is now bigger than France, Germany and Spain combined.

(Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch Growing Rapidly, Study Finds, VOA)

We, however, lay to until the morning, fearing to encounter in the dark those large loose masses which float about after the breaking up of the ice.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The thing was extremely small, even for me, and I can hardly imagine that it could have floated with a full-sized man.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

His staff in one hand and his scrip in the other, with springy step and floating locks, he raced along the forest path, as active and as graceful as a young deer.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They are a deep, strong, silent stream, and you are the scum, the bubbles, the poor, silly froth that floats upon the surface.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Malignant pleural effusion fluid often contains free-floating malignant cells. —2004

(Malignant pleural effusion, NCI Thesaurus)

At sunset the tent was struck, hampers packed, wickets pulled up, boats loaded, and the whole party floated down the river, singing at the tops of their voices.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A series of float values each of which represents proportion of variance for each principal component.

(Eigenvalue, NCI Thesaurus)

An infiltrating pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, characterized by the presence of malignant cells floating in pools of mucin.

(Colloid Carcinoma of the Pancreas, NCI Thesaurus)

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