refloat
Americanverb (used with object)
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to put (a boat or a beached whale) back into the water.
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to reintroduce or re-establish (an idea, project, business, etc.), often on a new or better footing.
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to issue again.
Other Word Forms
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.
See Examples For:
On the way back south, it spent four days unloading cargo from the Thamesborg, the vessel grounded in the Franklin Strait, to help refloat it before the onset of new ice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
Efforts to refloat it have been unsuccessful so far.
From BBC ● May 23, 2025
Last week, cleanup crews were able to refloat the Dali and guide it back to port.
From Seattle Times ● May 29, 2024
By 3:30 p.m. local time, rescue teams decided to euthanize the surviving animals “on welfare grounds,” after it was determined that rough waves and shallow beach conditions made it unsafe to refloat them.
From New York Times ● Jul. 17, 2023
I lost much time in my search, for the larger logs which had been driven ashore had got wedged, and required more than one man's strength to refloat them.
From Murder Point A Tale of Keewatin by Coningsby Dawson
It was only barely refloated by rescue vessels before new ice formed, which would have trapped it over winter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
It was hoped the whales would be able to be refloated when the tide came in during the early hours of Tuesday.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2024
The controlled demolition will allow the Dali to be refloated and guided back into the Port of Baltimore.
From Seattle Times ● May 11, 2024
Treasury Department sanctions being refloated in Indonesia is filled with Venezuelan fuel, according to vessel monitoring services.
From Reuters ● Nov. 10, 2022
Blue Team’s sixteen lost ships, which were lying at the bottom of the Persian Gulf, were refloated.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
"This will mean the boats in the immediate area are refloating, and navigation along other affected areas will be restored."
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2025
At the same time, crews are working to remove some containers from the cargo ship Dali before lifting steel spans off its bow and refloating the vessel.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 15, 2024
Daren Grover, general manager at charity Project Jonah, which deals with stranded whales, said there were also not enough people in the area to help with refloating.
From Reuters ● Oct. 11, 2022
This new strategy would take about two weeks, the Coast Guard said, adding that it offered “the best chance of successfully refloating the Ever Forward.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2022
Along the banks logs grounded, and were rolled over by their own momentum into places so shallow as to discourage any hope of refloating them unless by main strength.
From The Riverman by Stewart Edward White
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