floating

By surface analysis, float +‎ -ing.

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

• Audio (US):

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

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.

floating

1. present participle and gerund of float

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.

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