Float Meaning
/fləʊt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object).
verbTo be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object)., To be supported by a liquid of greater density, such that part (of the object or substance) remains above the surface.
Sentence Examples
The substance is light enough to float on the water.
Hey! Throw that float to me.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The small wooden boat began to ____ gently on the calm water, moving with the current.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A piece of wood will ____ on the surface of the water because it is less dense.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English floten, from Old English flotian (“to float”), from Proto-West Germanic *flotōn, from Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewd-, *plew- (“to float, swim, fly”). Compare flow, fleet.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Over the tree-tops I float thee a song, / Over the rising and sinking waves, over the myriad fields and the prairies wide, / Over the dense-pack’d cities all and the teeming wharves and ways, / I float this carol with joy, with joy to thee O death."
— 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:
"Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, also floated the idea of turning Canada into a U.S. state, said he would demand far higher defense spending from NATO allies and promised to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America."
— 2025 January 8, Steve Holland, Joseph Ax, “Trump won't rule out force to take Panama Canal, Greenland”, in USA Today, sourced from Reuters, →ISSN, →OCLC, Nation & World, page 1NN, columns 3–4:
""Peg out a claim wherever you like and we will float it," was the substance of many a code of instructions sent by unprincipled men in the mining world of the colonies to the gold prospectors in Port Darwin."
— 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 210:
"He [Mario Moretti Polegato] floated the company on the Milan Stock Exchange last December and sold 29 per cent of its shares, mostly to American investors."
— 2005 June 21, Dewi Cooke, The Age:
"This wire, nailed over the face of the old plaster will also reinforce any loose lath or plaster after the walls have set. Float the wall to the face of the lath first."
— 1932, The Bricklayer, Mason and Plasterer, volumes 35-37, page 35:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The small wooden boat began to ____ gently on the calm water, moving with the current.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A piece of wood will ____ on the surface of the water because it is less dense.