afloat
Americanadverb
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floating or borne on the water; in a floating condition.
The ship was set afloat.
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on board a ship, boat, raft, etc.; at sea.
cargo afloat and ashore.
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covered with water; flooded; awash.
The main deck was afloat.
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moving without being guided or controlled; drifting.
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passing from place to place; in circulation.
A rumor is afloat.
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free of major trouble, especially financially solvent.
to keep a venture afloat.
adjective
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floating
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aboard ship; at sea
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covered with water; flooded
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aimlessly drifting
afloat in a sea of indecision
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in circulation; afoot
nasty rumours were afloat
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free of debt; solvent
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of afloat
before 1000; Middle English, Old English on flote. See a- 1, float
Explanation
If something's afloat, it's drifting on the water. When you sail toy boats, you set them afloat across a pond or lake. You can set something afloat, like an inner tube in a pool or a leaf on a stream, or you can struggle to stay afloat, as when the passengers of a capsized boat try to keep their heads above water. In either case, being afloat means floating on the surface. The Old English word is aflote, from a Germanic root word.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The firm warned in its annual report it needed to secure fresh financing to stay afloat after taking a £55m hit from outages over the winter.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
The money your brother did not collect goes back into the pot and will hopefully help keep the program afloat.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
"Now you're talking 65 to 75 hours of work a week to stay afloat and pay your bills."
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
During the war, the chief executive of an auto-parts importer said he laid off workers, sold down inventory to pay debts and cut costs aggressively to stay afloat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
She wasn’t sure if the same strategy could work with two other people, but she put one arm around each boy and tried to keep them afloat as they held the cornucopia between them.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
