floss
UK/flɒs//flɔs/
floss noun: a thread used to clean the gaps between the teeth.
Noun (1)
floss (countable and uncountable, plural flosses)
- A thread used to clean the gaps between the teeth.
- Raw silk fibres.
- The fibres covering a corncob etc.; the loose downy or silky material inside the husks of certain plants, such as beans.
- Any thread-like material having parallel strands that are not spun or wound around each other.
- embroidery floss
- Spun sugar or cotton candy, especially in the phrase "candy floss".
- A body feather of an ostrich.
- Flosses are soft, and grey from the female and black from the male.
- A dance move in which the dancer repeatedly swings their arms, with clenched fists, from the back of their body to the front, on each side.
Verb
floss (third-person singular simple present flosses, present participle flossing, simple past and past participle flossed)
- To clean the area between (the teeth) using floss.
- I don't floss very often.
- I floss my teeth twice a day.
- To show off, especially by exhibiting one's wealth or talent.
- As the label's name no doubt implies, these rappers aren't your typical crew, even if they still like to floss and represent their city.2003, Vladimir Bogdanov, All Music Guide to Hip-Hop: The Definitive Guide to Rap and Hip-Hop, Backbeat Books, page 554
- “Ms. Jackson” is probably the most sensitive—and realistic—take on relationships to come out of hip-hop, while “Red Velvet” cautions would-be playas against pushing the floss envelope around “dirty boys” just waiting for a chance to add some gray flecks to that fur.2003, Oliver Wang, Classic Material: The Hip-Hop Album Guide, ECW Press, page 134
- Synonyms:
- flamboast, high-side, stunt, aura farm, boulevardier, cut a wide swath, cut it fat, cut round, exhibitionize, figure away
- To perform the floss dance move.
Noun (2)
floss (plural flosses)
Noun (3)
floss (plural flosses)
- The common rush (Juncus effusus).
- Synonyms:
- common rush, soft rush
Noun (4) capitalized: FLOSS
FLOSS (uncountable)
- Abbreviation of free/libre/open source software.
- FLOSS has proven to be an extremely valuable tool for accelerating research in various fields of IT and engineering in order to address the needs of society in the future.2019, Brian Fitzgerald, Audris Mockus, Minghui Zhou, Towards Engineering Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) Ecosystems for Impact and Sustainability, Springer, →ISBN, page 121
floss meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
floss in Hindi
- फ्लॉस, फ्लोस
floss in Tamil
- ஃப்ளோஸ், ஃப்ளாஸ், ஃப்ளோஸ் செய்ய
floss in Marathi
- फ्लॉस, फ्लोस, फ्लॉस करण्यासाठी
floss in Urdu
- فلوس, فلاؤس
More languagesFewer languages
- floss in Bengali
- ফ্লস, ফ্লোস, ফ্লস করতে
- floss in Telugu
- ఫ్లోస్, ఫ్లాస్
- floss in Malayalam
- ഫ്ലോസ്, ഫ്ളോസ്, ഫ്ലോസ് ചെയ്യാൻ
- floss in Kannada
- ಫ್ಲೋಸ್, ಫ್ಲಾಸ್, ಫ್ಲಾಸ್ ಮಾಡಲು
- floss in Punjabi
- ਫਲੌਸ, ਫਲੋਸ, ਫ਼ਲੋਸ
- floss in Gujarati
- ફ્લોસ, ફ્લૉસ, ફ્લોઝ
- floss in Odia
- ଫ୍ଲୋସ୍, ଫ୍ଲୋସ୍ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
- floss in Nepali
- फ्लोस, फ्लोस गर्न
- floss in Indonesian
- serat sutra, gulali, gula kapas, permen kapas
Examples of floss in a sentence
- Toffee apples and fairy floss are often sold as fairground snacks.
- It is recommended to use an interdental brush, or dental floss, to clean between the teeth.
- Use one strand of Light Yellow floss to make little fly stitches in the bee's right wing.
Synonyms of floss
- flamboast
- high-side
- stunt
- aura farm
- boulevardier
- cut a wide swath
- exhibitionize
- flex
- fluff one's feathers
- gallery
21 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of floss
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | flosses |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | flosses |
| present participle | flossing |
| past participle | flossed |
| past | flossed |
Origin of floss
Unclear: * Possibly from French floche (“tuft of wool”), from floc, from Old French flosche (“down, velvet”), from Latin floccus (“piece of wool”), probably from Frankish *flokkō (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkô (“down, piece of wool, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). * Or, from Middle English *flos (attested in Middle English Flosmonger (a surname)), from Proto-West Germanic *fleus, related to English fleece. Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”), Dutch flos (“plush”) (tr=17c.).
From dialectal flosh (“a flush, stream of water, sluice”), from Middle English flosche, flusche, flasche, flaske (“a watery or marshy place, swamp”), perhaps from Old French flache, from Middle Dutch vlacke (“a flat area, plain”), ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *fleutan. Compare also German Floss (“a float”).
Origin obscure. Perhaps of North Germanic origin. Compare Norwegian flos, flus (“rind, scale, strip peeled off”).
Words formed from floss
Phrases with floss
Words that rhyme with floss
Questions about floss
- What does floss mean?
- Floss means a thread used to clean the gaps between the teeth.
- What is floss in Hindi?
- Floss in Hindi is फ्लॉस, फ्लोस. See Floss meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is floss?
- Floss can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce floss?
- Floss is pronounced /flɒs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of floss?
- The plural of floss is flosses.
Words near floss in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: floss (page history and authors); FLOSS (page history and authors); floss (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); floss (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); floss (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); floss (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); floss (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); floss (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); floss (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); floss (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); floss (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); floss (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); floss (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); floss (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: en-us-floss.ogg.
Cite this entry: “floss.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/floss. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.