Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb & adjective In a floating position or condition.
- adverb & adjective On a boat or ship away from the shore; at sea.
- adverb & adjective In circulation; prevailing.
- adverb & adjective Awash; flooded.
- adverb & adjective Drifting about; moving without guidance.
- adverb & adjective Free or out of difficulty, especially financial difficulty.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Borne on the water; in a floating condition: as, the ship is afloat.
- Figuratively, moving; passing from place to place; in circulation: as, a rumor is afloat.
- Unfixed; moving without guide or control: as, our affairs are all afloat.
- In a state of overflow; flooded: as, the main deck was afloat.
- On board ship; at sea: as,cargo afloat and ashore.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb Borne on the water; floating; on board ship.
- adverb Moving; passing from place to place; in general circulation.
- adverb Unfixed; moving without guide or control; adrift.
- adverb Covered with water bearing floating articles; flooded.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb
floating - adverb out at
sea - adverb making successful
progress under one's own steam
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective aimlessly drifting
- adjective covered with water
- adjective borne on the water; floating
Etymologies
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Examples
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Furthermore, your claim that defense spending keeps our economy afloat is also ridiculous.
Government blues David 2006
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it is disappointing that 'girl friendly' doesn't equal sales and that to keep the title afloat DC may have to return to 'perv horndog friendly' tactics.
"Why Aren't You Ladies Reading Supergirl?!" David S. Carter 2007
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While QANTAS are certainly showing signs of agility, the primary factor keeping the group afloat is the success of their Low Cost Carrier brand Jetstar.
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HAMILTON: What keeps them afloat is the bestsellers.
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In fact, the only thing keeping them even close to afloat is the massive amount of junk mail (dead tree spam) they deliver, and the fact that we need a nice fat paper trail of our financial transactions to prove our compliance with the tax code (statements, bills, etc) in the event of an audit.
Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » Health Care and the Post Office 2010
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While QANTAS are certainly showing signs of agility, the primary factor keeping the group afloat is the success of their Low Cost Carrier brand Jetstar.
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The only thing that keeps him and his family afloat is the fact that he earns enough to pay for it.
Duck, It's Hillary! 2008
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The paltry 34 billion that the “American Auto makers” need to stay afloat is nothing compared to the seven trillion we have spent covering the bankers bets.
Obama Praises Efforts by Besieged Automakers - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2008
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So on the walk this morning I was wondering what else to add to the list, just to do my bit to keep Amazin afloat, you understand.
Archive 2004-06-01 Jonathan 2004
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So on the walk this morning I was wondering what else to add to the list, just to do my bit to keep Amazin afloat, you understand.
Cheat's guide to Joyce's Ulysses Jonathan 2004
bilby commented on the word afloat
Three of us afloat in the meadow by the swing,
Three of us aboard in the basket on the lea.
Winds are in the air, they are blowing in the spring,
And waves are on the meadow like the waves there are at sea.
Where shall we adventure, to-day that we're afloat,
Wary of the weather and steering by a star?
Shall it be to Africa, a-steeringof the boat,
To Providence, or Babylon, or off to Malabar?
- Robert Louis Stevenson, 'Pirate Story'.
November 4, 2008
vanishedone commented on the word afloat
WeirdNet and its thesaurus aspirations...
June 6, 2009