floatation
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of floatation
First recorded in 1800–10
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.
First class passenger Laura Mabel Francatelli used the floatation device before entering a lifeboat and was one of about 700 people to survive the tragedy in 1912.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
Those who survived then spent hours bobbing in life jackets or clinging to other floatation devices while awaiting rescue, the 53-year-old lawyer said.
From Barron's ● Jan. 27, 2026
Due to the weight of a battery and motor, the researchers may need to attach a floatation device to the robot to keep it from sinking, Jung said.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 4, 2023
During intelligence flights, the aircraft can drop sonobuoys — small floatation devices carrying an expendable sonar system.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 12, 2023
A vessel with a round buttock at her line of floatation can have but little dead-water, the rounding abaft allowing the fluid soon to recover its state of rest.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir
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.
