Afloat Meaning
/əˈfloʊt/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
advIn or into a state of floating.
advIn, or while in, a vessel at sea or on another body of water; at sea.
Sentence Examples
There are strange rumors afloat.
The company managed to keep afloat.
The groundswell of support kept his campaign afloat.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
Despite a leak, the wooden raft managed to stay ____ in the lake.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The life jacket helped keep the young boy ____ until rescue arrived.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Hellenic *ə- Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-)der. English a- English float English afloat From a- + float.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"You have so little Brains, that a Penn’orth of Butter melted under ’um, would set ’um afloat:"
— 1668, John Dryden, Sir Martin Mar-all, London: H. Herringman, act II, page 22:
"[…] I went down to my Boat, got the Water out of her, and got her afloat, loaded all my Cargo in her, and then went Home again for more;"
— 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 224:
"Oh why is heaven built so far, / Oh why is earth set so remote? / I cannot reach the nearest star / That hangs afloat."
— 1881, Christina Rossetti, “De Profundis”, in A Pageant and Other Poems, London: Macmillan, page 60:
"[…] that trade […] may likewise employ many useful hands both ashore and afloat,"
— 1788, Alexander Jardine, Letters from Barbary, France, Spain, Portugal, &c., London: T. Cadell, Volume 2, Letter 23, p. 236:
"They was the roughest crew afloat, was Flint’s; the devil himself would have been feared to go to sea with them."
— 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 11, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part II (The Sea Cook), page 88:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
Despite a leak, the wooden raft managed to stay ____ in the lake.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The life jacket helped keep the young boy ____ until rescue arrived.