Word.ws English Dictionary

floaty

/ˈfləʊti//ˈfloʊti/

floaty adjective: tending to float on a liquid or to rise in air or a gas; buoyant.

Adjective

floaty (comparative floatier, superlative floatiest)

  1. Tending to float on a liquid or to rise in air or a gas; buoyant.
    • [S]ome fevv buttes of beare being flotie they got, vvhich though it had lien ſix moneths vnder vvater vvas very good, […]1624, Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, “The Generall Historie of the Bermudas, Now Called the Summer Iles, from Their Beginning in the Yeere of Our Lord 1593. to This Present 1624. with Their Proceedings...
    • The Oxonians, too, though, judging by avoirdupois, they were big enough for the floatiest outrigger, preferred the old friend in which they had won the 'Varsity in 1878 and 'suffered' last year.1880 April, “The University Boat-race”, in Baily’s Monthly Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, volume XXXV, number 242, London: A. H. Baily & Co., […], →OCLC, page 231
    1. (archaic) Of a ship: having a shallow draft (the depth from the waterline to the bottom of a vessel's hull), and thus drawing less (that is, floating higher in) water.
      • I then told my Lord of Eſſex that mine vvas a floaty ſhip and vvell appointed for that ſervice; […]a. 1610 (date written), Francis Vere, “The Calis-journey”, in William Dillingham, editor, The Commentaries of Sr. Francis Vere, Being Diverse Pieces of Service, wherein He had Command, […]...
      • The extream length of a Ship makes her unapt to ſtay, eſpecially if ſhe be floatie and vvant ſharpneſſe of vvay forvvard.a. 1612 November 16 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Walter Raleigh, “[Sir Walter Raleigh’s Letters.] Sr. Walter Raleigh's Letter to Prince Henry, Touching the Model of a Ship.”, in Remains of Sir...
  2. (figuratively) Of music: light and relaxing.
    • All the floaty music in the world could not disguise my grunts [during a massage] as I clenched my teeth and curled my toes to fight the pain.2005 September 17, Adam Fresco, “Definitely knot one for the wimps”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Mar 2024
    • Notice that this chord seems to be floating up in the air. If you strum Dsus2 instead of D, you can make your chord seem more haunting or drifting. […] This chord [Dsus4] has an even floatier feel than Dsus2 and is out of tune for other chords.2006, Charles Kim, “Suspensions and Bass Runs”, in Teach Yourself Visually Guitar, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 133
  3. (figuratively) Of an object: light and flimsy or soft; specifically, of a dress: lightweight, so as to rise away from the body when the wearer is moving.
    • O here is a Bed / Shrinkproofer than that, / A floatier, boatier / Bed than that!1976, Sylvia Plath, “The Bed Book”, in The It-Doesn’t-Matter Suit and Other Stories, London: Faber & Faber, published 2014, →ISBN, page 78
    • But deep down she had a passion for kitchen comforts— […] for a perfectly piped butter icing on top of the highest, lightest, floatiest lemon cupcake.2011, Jenny Colgan, chapter 1, in Meet Me at the Cupcake Café, London: Sphere Books, published 2012, →ISBN, page 6
    Synonyms:
    gossamer
  4. (figuratively) Of a person: feeling calm, dreamy, happy, etc., as if floating in the air.
    • [A]s you stand on the steps of the Castle Green in this strange place, you feel quite floaty. This you are told is the scene of the Merthyr riots; and you feel still floatier as you body forth before your eyes a picture like the following— […]1851 March 22, “The Foreign Country at Home. IV. Abergavenny to Swansea.”, in Leigh Hunt, editor, Leigh Hunt’s Journal; a Miscellany for the Cultivation of the Memorable, the Progressive, and the...
    • Surprise! Surprise! When the lights flick on in a darkened room and grinning friends spring from behind the sofa, joy jumps up like a jack-in-the-box. We feel bubblier than any vintage champagne, floatier than a bunch of balloons.2003, Libby Willis, “Fun and Games”, in Happiness: The Feel-good Factor, Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Publishing, →ISBN, page 52
  5. (figuratively) Of speech or writing: overly complicated or elaborate; flowery, grandiloquent.
    • [William Butler] Yeats divests himself of his floatier fin-de-siècle rhetoric to discover a hard plain speech both properly twentieth century and pre-nineteenth century.2013, Adam Piette, “Modernist Victorianism”, in Matthew Bevis, editor, The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Poetry, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part II (Literary Landscapes)...

Noun

floaty (plural floaties)

  1. (informal) A particle of food, etc., found floating in liquid.
    • Why don't you stop slathering millions of things on your face, and lather up with my gentle Swan? It's the loveliest, pure, mild floatie—why, it'll get you clean as a baby!1945 September 24, “Memos to Mama from Baby and Swan [advertisement]”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 19, number 13, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 42
    • I have always loved the way he just walks up and feels free to drink out my glass or bottle of water. I admit, when he was a baby I tried to give him his own sippy cup and avoid the little ‘floaties’ that little ones leave in your drink. But if there was no sippy cup available, I fished out the...2002, Trena Cole, “The Baby Factory”, in Charred Souls: A Story of Recreational Child Abuse, Indianapolis, Ind.: Oberpark Publishing, →ISBN, page 29
  2. (US, informal) A lilo (inflatable air mattress) or similar object that floats on water and can be lain or sat on.
    • I am going to begin with a confession that seems to me to be startling less for its content than for the sheer number of similar stories that I have heard related among so many of my successful women friends. Prevalent as it is, it always surfaces abruptly, bobbing awkwardly as a lone yellow...1998, Debra Shukles, “Weighing in as a Feminist”, in Rosamund Else-Mitchell, Naomi Flutter, editors, Talking Up: Young Women’s Take on Feminism, Melbourne, Vic.: Spinifex Press, →ISBN, page 71
    • My best friend just may be the Florida champ of floatie racing. Or she at least has the Cape Canaveral title. She pushed the flamingo floatie to the opposite end of the pool in record time. I come in a distant second, as usual. This, after my best efforts to use my ginormous floatie to bump her off...2019, Alyssa Milano, with Debbie Rigaud, chapter 2, in Project Middle School (Hope; 1), New York, N.Y.: Scholastic, →ISBN, page 15
  3. (US, in plural, informal) Synonym of armband (“one of a pair of inflatable plastic bands, normally worn on the upper arms, to help the wearer (often a child) float in water and learn to swim”).
    • As an escaped megalodon swims close to a busy beach, we see humanity at its most chompable: chubby kids in floaties, doofuses on pontoons, some dork in a tight Speedo rolling around in one of those big inflatable Zorb balls. But alas, the movie is a gore-free PG-13, and though CGI has long since...2018 August 8, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “Jason Statham fighting a giant shark should be a lot more fun than The Meg”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 26 Dec 2023

Examples of floaty in a sentence

  • [Roger] Federer slices it right back down the same line, slow and floaty with backspin, making [Rafael] Nadal return to the same spot.2006, David Foster Wallace, “Federer both Flesh and Not”, in Both Flesh and Not, New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, published...
  • The reason of my particularizing, and making choice of the Vigilant is, that she is the most Floaty Ship of her Class in this Harbour.1775 October 10, Molyneux Shuldham, “European Theatre, Aug. 11, 1775 – Oct. 31, 1775 [Rear Admiral Molyneux Shuldham to Philip Stephens]”...

Synonyms of floaty

Forms of floaty

Adjective
comparativefloatier
superlativefloatiest
Noun
pluralfloaties
alternative formfloatie

Origin of floaty

From float (noun or verb) + -y (suffix meaning ‘inclined to’ forming adjectives). Compare Middle English floti, floty (“of a place: well supplied with water”).

From float (noun) + -y (suffix forming diminutive nouns).

Words formed from floaty

Words that rhyme with floaty

Questions about floaty

What does floaty mean?
Floaty means tending to float on a liquid or to rise in air or a gas; buoyant.
How do you use floaty in a sentence?
[Roger] Federer slices it right back down the same line, slow and floaty with backspin, making [Rafael] Nadal return to the same spot.
What part of speech is floaty?
Floaty can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce floaty?
Floaty is pronounced /ˈfləʊti/ (UK).

Words near floaty in the dictionary

  1. floatsome
  2. floatstick
  3. floatsticks
  4. floatstone
  5. floatstones
  6. floaty
  7. flob
  8. flobbed
  9. flobber
  10. flobbered
  11. flobbergrast

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: floaty (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-floaty.wav, En-us-floaty.oga.

Cite this entry: “floaty.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/floaty. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.