floating

English

Etymology

By surface analysis, float +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfloʊtɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfləʊtɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -əʊtɪŋ

Adjective

floating (not comparable)

1. That floats or float.

   floating buoys

2. Not fixed in position, opinion etc.; free to move or drift.

   The outcome of the forthcoming election is still unclear due to the large number of floating voters.

   In China, the large floating population has tended to gravitate to cities.

   You can drag the floating toolbars to any position on the screen.

   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 198:

     "And I am much mistaken if she has not some floating fancy of her own."

3. (linguistics, of a tone) that is not attached to any consonant or vowel within its morpheme.

Derived terms

• floating academy
• floating beacon
• floating bog
• floating bridge
• floating car data
• floating cellular data
• floating dock
• floating feeling
• floating gold
• floating ground
• floating heart
• floating island
• floating kidney
• floating light
• floating market
• floating point, floating-point
• floating-point number
• floating-point operation
• floating point operation
• floating-point unit
• floating rate
• floating rib
• floating screed
• floating signifier
• floating tone
• floating vote
• floating voter
• floating wind turbine
• floating wood tile
• free-floating planet

 

Translations

that floats

• Ainu: アモㇺカ (amomka)
• Belarusian: плыву́чы (plyvúčy), наплаўны́ (naplaŭný) (kept afloat)
• Bulgarian: плаващ (bg) (plavašt)
• Catalan: flotant (ca), surant
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 漂浮的 (zh) (piāofúde)

• Finnish: kelluva (fi)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: πλωτός (plōtós)

• Romanian: plutitor (ro), flotant (ro)
• Russian: плаву́чий (ru) (plavúčij), наплавно́й (ru) (naplavnój) (kept afloat)
• Spanish: flotante (es), flotador
• Ukrainian: плаву́чий (plavúčyj), наплавни́й (naplavnýj) (kept afloat)

not fixed

• Bulgarian: променлив (bg) (promenliv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 浮動的／浮动的 (zh) (fúdòngde)

• Finnish: liikkuva (fi)
• Maori: māngina (of an opinion, undecided), mōngina (of an opinion, undecided)
• Romanian: flotant (ro)

Verb

floating

1. present participle and gerund of float

Noun

floating (plural floatings)

1. The motion of something that floats.
2. (in the plural) Material that floats in a liquid.
   • 1898, Journal of Microscopy, page 256:

     Plastic mud, brownish tinted, rich in floatings.

3. The spreading of plaster on the surface of walls.
4. (veterinary medicine) A veterinary dental procedure involving the filing down of sharp surfaces on a horse's teeth.

Anagrams

• antigolf