float·ing

(flō′tĭng)

adj.

1. Buoyed on or suspended in or as if in a fluid.

2. Not secured in place; unattached.

3. Inclined to move or be moved about: a floating meeting; floating crap games.

a. Permitted to rise or fall in response to the market: a floating exchange rate; a floating interest rate.

b. Having an exchange rate or interest rate that rises or falls in response to the market: a floating currency; a floating loan.

5. Being short-term debt that is continuously refinanced.

6. Economics Available for use; in circulation. Used of capital.

7. Designed or constructed to operate smoothly and without vibration.

8. Of or relating to an organ of the body that is movable or out of normal position: a floating kidney.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

floating

(ˈfləʊtɪŋ)

adj

1. having little or no attachment

2. (Pathology) (of an organ or part) displaced from the normal position or abnormally movable: a floating kidney.

3. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) not definitely attached to one place or policy; uncommitted or unfixed: the floating vote.

4. (Banking & Finance) finance

a. (of capital) not allocated or invested; available for current use

b. (of debt) short-term and unfunded, usually raised by a government or company to meet current expenses

c. (of a currency) free to fluctuate against other currencies in accordance with market forces

5. (Mechanical Engineering) machinery operating smoothly through being free from external constraints

6. (Electronics) (of an electronic circuit or device) not connected to a source of voltage

ˈfloatingly adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

float•ing

(ˈfloʊ tɪŋ)

adj.

1. being buoyed up on water or other liquid.

2. moving from one place to another: a floating work force.

3. (of a body part or organ) away from its proper position, esp. in a downward direction: a floating kidney.

a. in circulation or use, or not permanently invested, as capital.

b. composed of sums due within a short time: a floating debt.

5. Mach.

a. having a soft suspension greatly reducing vibrations between the suspended part and its support.

b. working smoothly.

[1555–65]

float′ing•ly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	floating - the act of someone who floats on the water natation swim, swimming - the act of swimming; "it was the swimming they enjoyed most": "they took a short swim in the pool" dead-man's float, prone float - a floating position with the face down and arms stretched forward
Adj.	1.	floating - borne up by or suspended in a liquid; "the ship is still floating"; "floating logs"; "floating seaweed" afloat - borne on the water; floating
	2.	floating - continually changing especially as from one abode or occupation to another; "a drifting double-dealer"; "the floating population"; "vagrant hippies of the sixties" drifting, vagrant, aimless, vagabond unsettled - not settled or established; "an unsettled lifestyle"
	3.	floating - inclined to move or be moved about; "a floating crap game" mobile - moving or capable of moving readily (especially from place to place); "a mobile missile system"; "the tongue is...the most mobile articulator"
	4.	floating - (of a part of the body) not firmly connected; movable or out of normal position; "floating ribs are not connected with the sternum"; "a floating kidney" unfixed - not firmly placed or set or fastened
	5.	floating - not definitely committed to a party or policy; "floating voters" uncommitted - not bound or pledged

floating

adjective

1. buoyant, drifting, buoyed, resting on water Firefighters are unable to use floating booms.

2. uncommitted, wavering, undecided, indecisive, vacillating, sitting on the fence (informal), unaffiliated, independent floating voters appear to have deserted the party

3. free, wandering, variable, fluctuating, unattached, migratory, movable, unfixed a house I shared with a floating population of others

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

επιπλέων

flottant variable

galleggiante natante flottante

floating

[ˈfləʊtɪŋ] ADJ [object, assets, currency, debt, dock] → flotante (Brit) [voter] → indeciso
the floating vote → el voto de los indecisos

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

floating

[ˈfləʊtɪŋ] adj → flottant(e)floating voter n (British) → électeur/trice m/f indécis(e)float plane n (US) (= seaplane) → hydravion m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

floating

adj

raft, logs → treibend; floating hotel/restaurant → schwimmendes Hotel/Restaurant

(fig) population → wandernd

(Fin) currency → freigegeben; floating exchange rate → floatender or frei schwankender Wechselkurs

(Math, Comput) → Gleit-; floating accent (Comput) → fliegender Akzent; floating point (Comput), → Fließ- or Gleitkomma nt

(Med) kidney → Wander-; rib → frei

n (of currency) → Freigabe f, → Floating nt

floating

floating bridge

n → Schiffsbrücke f

floating capital

n → Umlauf- or Betriebskapital nt

floating debt

n → schwebende Schuld

floating dock

n → Schwimmdock nt

floating ice

n → Treibeis nt

floating light

n (= ship) → Leuchtschiff nt; (= buoy) → Leuchtboje f

floating voter

n (fig) → Wechselwähler m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

floating

[ˈfləʊtɪŋ] adj → a galla

float·ing

a. flotante, libre, sin adhesión;

___ ribs → costillas ___ -s.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Espied by some timid man-of-war or blundering discovery-vessel from afar, when the distance obscuring the swarming fowls, nevertheless still shows the white mass floating in the sun, and the white spray heaving high against it; straightway the whale's unharming corpse, with trembling fingers is set down in the log -- shoals, rocks, and breakers hereabouts: beware!

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Martens tried similar ones, but in a much better manner, for he placed the seeds in a box in the actual sea, so that they were alternately wet and exposed to the air like really floating plants.

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The child released its hold on the mother's hand, and floating slowly upward, remained poised in midair--a softly glowing presence shining out of the dark background of the trees.

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He believed the rock would prevent their floating backward with the current, and so it did.

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The bubble took a southerly direction, quickly floating out of sight.

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Of their eight tentacles, six were elongated, and stretched out floating on the water, whilst the other two, rolled up flat, were spread to the wing like a light sail.

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Inside she reminded me of nothing so much as a floating trench.

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Discipline, order, method, common care, we brought none of these things with us from our floating furnace; but we fought to be first over the bulwarks, and in the bottom of the long-boat we fought again.

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Floating down about two miles further, they came in sight of the first band, scattered along the river bank, all well mounted; some armed with guns, others with bows and arrows, and a few with lances.

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His fingers feeling through the darkness came in contact with something cold and clammy--they passed to and fro over the thing until Bradley knew that it was the face of a dead man floating upon the surface of the stream.

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And presently she saw it, a long way off, floating on the water like a toy-boat.

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Then the gentle Fairy folded her little arms around Annie's neck, laid a soft kiss on her cheek, and, spreading wide her shining wings, flew singing up among the white clouds floating in the sky.

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