Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Afloat |
AfloatAdjective1. Aimlessly drifting. 2. Borne on the water; floating. 3. Covered with water; "the main deck was afloat (or awash)"; "the monsoon left the whole place awash"; "a flooded bathroom"; "inundated farmlands"; "an overflowing tub". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "afloat" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Economics | Refers to a shipment of cargo which is currently on board a vessel between ports. (references) |
Food & Agriculture | Completely waterborne. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: AfloatSynonyms: adrift(p) (adj), afloat(p) (adj), aimless (adj), awash(p) (adj), directionless (adj), flooded (adj), inundated (adj), overflowing (adj), planless (adj), rudderless (adj), undirected (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonyms: aground(p) (adj), sunken (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Cause | Verb: be the cause; n of; originate; give origin to, give rise, to, give occasion to; cause, occasion, sow the seeds of, kindle, suscitate; bring on, bring to bring pass, bring about; produce; create; set up, set afloat, set on foot; found, broach, institute, lay the foundation of; lie at the root of. |
Changeableness | Unstaid, inconstant; unsteady, unstable, unfixed, unsettled; fluctuating; Verb: restless; agitated; erratic, fickle; irresolute; capricious; touch and go; inconsonant, fitful, spasmodic; vibratory; vagrant, wayward; desultory; afloat; alternating; alterable, plastic, mobile; transient; wavering. |
Eventuality | Adjective: happening; v; going on, doing, current; in the wind, in the air, afloat; on foot, afoot, on the tapis; at issue, in question; incidental. |
Existence | Adjective: existing; Verb: existent, under the sun; in existence; Noun: extant; afloat, afoot, on foot, current, prevalent; undestroyed. |
Navigation | Adjective: sailing; Verb: volant, aerostatic; seafaring, nautical, maritime, naval; seagoing, coasting; afloat; navigable; aerial, aeronautic; grallatory. |
News | Report, rumor, hearsay, on dit, flying rumor, news stirring, cry, buzz, bruit, fame; talk, oui dire, scandal, eavesdropping; town tattle, table talk; tittle tattle; canard, topic of the day, idea afloat. |
Adjective: many-tongued; rumored; publicly rumored, currently rumored, currently reported; rife, current, floating, afloat, going about, in circulation, in every one's mouth, all over the town. | |
Ocean | Adverb: at sea, on sea; afloat. |
Preparation | Adjective: preparing; Verb: in preparation, in course of preparation, in agitation, in embryo, in hand, in train; afoot, afloat; on foot, on the stocks, on the anvil; under consideration; (plan); brewing, batching, forthcoming, brooding; in store for, in reserve. |
Prosperity | Keep oneself afloat; keep one's head above water, hold one's head above water; land on one's feet, light on one's feet, light on one's legs, fall on one's legs, fall on one's feet; drop into a good thing; bear a charmed life; bask in the sunshine; have a good time of it, have a fine time of it; have a run of luck; have the good fortune; n. to; take a favorable turn; live on the fat of the land, live off the fat of the land, live in clover. |
Publication | Raise a cry, raise a hue and cry, raise a report; set news afloat. |
Be published; be public, become public; Adjective: come out; go about, fly about, buzz about, blow about; get about, get abroad, get afloat, get wind; find vent; see the light; go forth, take air, acquire currency, pass current; go the rounds, go the round of the newspapers, go through the length and breadth of the land; virum volitare per ora; pass from mouth to mouth; spread; run like wildfire, spread like wildfire. | |
Ship | Adverb: afloat, aboard; on board, on ship board; hard a lee, hard a port, hard a starboard, hard a weather. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Afloat |
| English words defined with "afloat": adrift, awash ♦ drifting ♦ float, flooded ♦ inundated ♦ overflowing ♦ refloat ♦ swim ♦ To keep one's head above water ♦ water level, water line, waterline. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "afloat": automatic pumping ♦ HULL INSPECTOR ♦ new ice ♦ Stocks, grain. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Our deluxe 757 is equipped with a number of safety features to use in case of an emergency, such as our fuel tanks explode, and we crash like a fiery ball into the sea. You'll find life jackets under your seats. In the event of a water landing, they will keep you afloat, unless you are seized by a giant squid, and dragged screaming beneath the waves. (Animaniacs; writing credit: Nick Dubois; Peter Hastings) I'm working for this firm that helps those overblown tech companies scale back and stay afloat now that they're facing leaner times. (Gilmore Girls; writing credit: Povl Erik Carstensen; Sebastian Dorset) | |
Lyrics | You gotta know how to keep this boat afloat, ("Can't Hang"; performing artist: Xscape) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Thunder Afloat (1939) Alf's Button Afloat (1938) 'Meteor III' Afloat (1902) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | "Campbell and Priestley afloat on pancake ice." In: "Scott's Last Expedition ....", 1913. Dodd, Mead, and Company. New York. Volume II. Page 66.Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |  | Rogue River - Wild section. BLM/FS/Outfitters "Partners Afloat" Trip. Gerry Briggs (front left passenger) and Urv Urie (barsman).Credit: Becky Brown. |
 | Chart showing the positions of U.S. Navy ships during the action (with individual ships identified, with their commanders), and of Confederate defenses ashore and afloat.Credit: NAVY. |  | Engraving by Henry Bryan Hall, Jr., New York, published in Semmes' book "Memoirs of Services Afloat". The print features a facsimile of Semmes' signature.Credit: NAVY. |
 | The wish that we launch upon the New Year : it will be the proudest thing afloat.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Keep the flag afloat.Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Disney's light-hearted ark, afloat in a wild world] / Covarrubias.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The same old pirate afloat again / Th. Nast.Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Yarmouth Castle steamship afloat.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Str. Detroit, Michigan Central Transfer, afloat just after launch.Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Small and medium size agribusiness are fighting hard to stay afloat. (references) | |
Korea's major telecom service providers are seeking alliances with international telecom operators to stay afloat. (references) | ||
Economic History | Burma | Due to the limited buying power, many local businesses report they are struggling to stay afloat. (references) |
Zambia | The efforts to keep Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) afloat cost the Zambian government sorely needed donor funds and inhibited multilateral and bilateral investment. (references) | |
Uzbekistan | Thus exporters benefited from an effective 200% devaluation that cut the dollar price of their exports by two thirds during calendar year 2000, which has been enough to keep some investors afloat. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | With the aid of Congress, in a few years the Government will be prepared in case of emergency to put afloat a powerful navy of new ships almost as soon as old ones could be repaired. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Afloat" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Afloat" is used about 245 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 245 | 19,065 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "afloat": afloat support ♦ be afloat ♦ get afloat ♦ idea afloat ♦ Jack afloat ♦ keep afloat ♦ set a ship afloat ♦ set afloat ♦ set news afloat ♦ stay afloat. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
afloat training group | 15 |
afloat | 11 |
afloat guide shopping | 11 |
afloat safety | 10 |
afloat holiday | 9 |
affair afloat | 7 |
afloat class | 5 |
afloat boy safety scout | 3 |
afloat group pacific training | 3 |
bed breakfast afloat | 2 |
afloat friendliest ship | 2 |
afloat bsa safety | 2 |
afloat atlantic group training | 2 |
afloat stay | 2 |
afloat lab naval office research | 2 |
afloat idaho | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "afloat"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | në qarkullim (abroad, circulating, current), në det, mbi ujë (awash), i lagur nga dallgët. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | عائما, طافيا, طاف (buoyant, circuit, cruise, floating, promenade, range, roam, roll, rove, scour, swag, tour, travel), ذو اكتفاء ذاتي, ذائع (current, rife), شائع (common, current, epidemic, general, popular, prevalent, public, rife, trendy, two a penny, widespread). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | в ход (afoot, running), носещ се по вода, надводен (above water), на служба във флота, на море, без дългове, по море, плувнал (aswim with, in water, swimming), платежоспособен (solvent, sound), плаващ (buoyant, floatable, floating, movable, natatorial, natatory). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 顺流 (downstream), 浮著 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | zatopený, ve vzduchu, v obìhu, nejistý (chancy, cloudy, doubtful, dubious, faltering, fluid, halting, insecure, jumpy, precarious, shaky, suspensive, tenuous, uncertain, undecided, uneasy, uneven, unsafe, unsettled, unsound, unsure), na vodì. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | let (bright, easy, facile, light, pleasant, slight). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | vlot (easy, facile, free, raft, smooth, unchecked), drijvend (floating). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | شناور (Adrift, Buoyant), درحرکت (Agog, Astir, Underway). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | veden varassa. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | flot. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | schwimmend (buoyant, buoyantly, floating, swimming), schuldenfrei (free from debt), liquide (liquid), über Wasser. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | επιπλέων (floater, floe, natant, to boot). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | צף (buoy, float, floating, natant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | úszva, vízen (awash, by water, to skitter), tengeren (at sea, by sea), lebegve, hajón (aboard, aboard a ship, aboard ship, by sea, on board, on board of a ship, on shipboard, to ship), forgalomban, elterjedve, úszó állapotban. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | tersiar (abroad), tersebar (diffuse, spread), terapung (adrift, drifting about, floating about), berlayar (sail, sailing), banjir (deluge, flood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | a galla (awash, floating). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | er-flod, er yn ushtey (by water), er yn eaghtyr (above ground), boggit (aspirate, aspirated, moistened, moisture, softened, steeped), bio (activated, alive, bright, hot, lifelike, live, live person, pictorial, spring tide after neap). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | afloatay a flutuar, a boiar, flutuante (awash, buoyant, floater, floating, flowing, flying, supernatant, unfunded, wavy), embarcado, desimpedido (clean, unimpeded, unobstructed), desgovernado (adrift, masterless), coberto de água (sunken), tona. (various references) plutind (on the float), pe mare (by sea), la bord (aboard, on shipboard), fãrã datorii (out of debt), în voia valurilor (adrift), în plin avânt, în circulaţie (abroach, passable). (various references) в разгаре, наплаву, на воде, на поверхности (on the surface). (various references) plutajući, na vodi, na splavu. (various references) flotante (adrift, aloft, ambulant, braggart, buoyant, float, floater, floating, loose, supernatant), a flote. (various references) flytande (buoyant, dripping, floating, flowing, fluent, fluently, fluid, glib, liquid, molten, pouring, smooth). (various references) yüzmekte, suda, su içinde, su basmış, su üzerinde, su üstünde, havada (aflight, aloft, in the air, overhead), dolaşmakta, denizde (at sea). (various references) у плаванні (at sea), що пливе на поверхні, в ужитку, в русі, в обігу, на службі у війсковому флоті, на воді (aquatically), на морі, на поверхні, залитий водою. (various references) ar led (abroad), ar daen (abroad), yn nofio. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Afloat" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Afilaka, Aflaq, A'flaq, aflit, aflood, afost, aleat, alfoat, alota, Falluja, halfofa. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "afloat" (pronounced uflō"t) |
| 4 | -f l ō" t | float. |
| 3 | -l ō" t | bloat, gloat. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-f-l-o-t" | |
-1 letter: aloft, fatal, float, flota. | |
-2 letters: alfa, alto, flat, foal, loaf, loft, lota, tala, tola. | |
-3 letters: aal, aft, ala, alt, fat, lat, lot, oaf, oat, oft, tao. | |
-4 letters: aa, al, at, fa, la, lo, of, ta, to. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-f-l-o-t" | |
+2 letters: faltboat, flatboat, floatage, meatloaf, nonfatal, toadflax. | |
+3 letters: aflatoxin, allograft, factional, factorial, faltboats, flatboats, floatages, solfatara. | |
+4 letters: aflatoxins, allografts, defalcator, factorable, factorials, fathomable, flamboyant, floatation, floatplane, fractional, malefactor, nonfactual, solfataras, toadflaxes. | |
+5 letters: affectional, affiliation, allografted, calefactory, confabulate, conflagrant, defalcation, defalcators, facilitator, factionally, fantabulous, flamboyants, floatations, floatplanes, malefaction, malefactors, parfocality, stagflation. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)41 66 6C 6F 61 74 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).- ..-. .-.. --- .- - |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000001 01100110 01101100 01101111 01100001 01110100 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)A f l o a t |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0041 0066 006C 006F 0061 0074 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)357278816786 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Quotations: Speeches | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Orthography | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
