free-floating
Americanadjective
-
(of an emotional state) lacking an apparent cause, focus, or object; generalized.
free-floating hostility.
-
(of people) uncommitted, as to a doctrine, political party, etc.; independent.
free-floating opportunists.
-
capable of relatively free movement.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of free-floating
First recorded in 1920–25
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.
Almost 30,000 pieces of debris are calculated to be free-floating in space, created when rockets break up in space or satellites disintegrate.
From BBC • Feb. 19, 2026
A new study shows that astronomers have directly measured the mass and distance of a newly discovered free-floating planet by observing it at the same time from Earth and from space.
From Science Daily • Jan. 4, 2026
"No doubt a State possesses legitimate power to protect children from harm, but that does not include a free-floating power to restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed," Pitman wrote.
From Barron's • Dec. 23, 2025
These sea snails are also voracious predators themselves and feast upon free-floating hydrozoan such as Velella velella and Portuguese man o’ war.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 23, 2025
To accomplish this, they have their own genome, a tiny thing with fewer than fifty genes, left over from their former existence as free-floating bacteria.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
