Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use afloat in a sentence

36 example sentences · adverb, adjective, preposition

Afloat means in or into a state of floating. Example: “A rubber duck and other toys were afloat in the bath.”

Examples of afloat by meaning

adverbIn, or while in, a vessel at sea or on another body of water; at sea.

  • Navy chow ashore is rarely as good as it is afloat, and for enlisted men it is usually much worse.1947, James Michener, “The Strike”, in Tales of the South Pacific, New York: Dial, published 2014, page 315

adjectiveFloating.

  • A rubber duck and other toys were afloat in the bath.

adjectiveFloating in the air; flowing freely; not tied, braided, etc. (of hair or clothing).

  • unbound silvery-gold tresses afloat beneath a jeweled coronet1971, Poul Anderson, chapter 4, in The Broken Sword, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1981, page 11

adjectiveCovered with water, bearing floating objects.

  • The decks are afloat.
  • The yard was afloat.1938, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, chapter 19, in The Yearling, New York: Scribner, page 233

adjectiveCovered, overspread, filled (with or in something).

  • The larch-wood was afloat with clear, lyric green,1911, D. H. Lawrence, The White Peacock, London: Heinemann, Part 2, Chapter 2, p. 233
  • The world was afloat in primrose light, pale and exquisite.1935, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Mistress Pat, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, published 1937, page 100
  • The lobby was afloat with men, single and married, meeting pretty women in bright dresses and pants suits, single and married.1979, Bernard Malamud, Dubin’s Lives, New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, Part 1, p. 51

adjectiveHaving just enough resources to continue to operate; barely able to pay expenses; (of a private individual, family...

  • The donation will keep our business afloat for quite a while.
  • The clan handouts that kept other Somalis afloat were absent here, as the Yibros were so few and so poor.2010, Nadifa Mohamed, Black Mamba Boy, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 67
  • The party’s cash crunch is serious enough that party officials have weighed seeking a line of credit to help it stay afloat, a development first reported by The New York Times.2025 June 21, Fredreka Schouten and Arit John, “The DNC’s cash crunch deepens as new filings show Republicans with a huge advantage”, in CNN

adjectiveBelieved or talked about by many people; being passed from person to person.

  • The supervisor was never fired, though countless accusations of dishonesty were afloat.

More sentences with afloat

  • God help him, he's just trying to stay afloat.From the entry God help someone
  • I took on freelance work, whatever I could get, to cover my expenses and stay afloat.2026 April 22, Jillian Sanders, “The Danger of Surrendering Your Financial Independence in a Relationship”, in TIME, archived from the…. From the entry lay off
  • Evergreening kept a bunch of companies afloat — like Daiei — that had utterly broken business models.2026 June 15, Noah Smith, “Will China, Inc. be zombified? A question surprisingly few people are asking”, in Noahopinion [Substack…. From the entry evergreening
  • For the Japanese, however, it's easier to summarize what is still afloat.2021 May 5, Drachinifel, 45:02 from the start, in Battle of Samar - What if TF34 was there?, archived from the original on 19 Aug 2022. From the entry technically
  • Income from audio books helps not inconsiderably to keep authors, and publishers, afloat.2009 February 25, Roy Blount Jr., “The Kindle Swindle?”, in New York Times. From the entry inconsiderably
  • The system is being kept afloat by the black magic of perceived government guarantees.1999, Timothy Kessler, Global Capital and National Politics, page 124. From the entry zombie system
  • Biggs, even Argyle — were bailing like sixty, trying to stay afloat in their sorry little tubs.1995, James P. Blaylock, All the Bells on Earth, page 269. From the entry like sixty
  • I always wondered how cloud city in ESB stay afloat and does not fall?1995 July 15, Umut Nurkan, “How does cloud city float?”, in rec.arts.sf.starwars (Usenet), message-ID…. From the entry repulsor beam
  • Government subsidies and cheap loans for agriculture are the only vehicles to keep the area afloat.1994, Geping Qu, Li Jinchang, translated by Jiang Baozhong and Gu Ran, edited by Robert B. Boardman, Population and the Environment in…. From the entry Luanchuan
  • The Cutty Sark is perhaps the only old tea clipper still afloat.1929 February 3, Warren Irvin, “Gallant Wooden Vessels Survive; Stanch Ships from the Era of Sail and the Early Days of Steam Are Still in…. From the entry tea clipper
  • She worked very hard to support the household, often times balancing three jobs to keep the household afloat.2026 August 6, Nicholas Muhoro, “An Ohio Teen Vanished During a One-Mile Drive in 1994. Her Locked Car Was Found Hours Later”, in Skip…. From the entry single parent
  • Nagato, Kongō, and Haruna are technically still afloat, but all three are quite clearly on their way to the bottom.2021 May 5, Drachinifel, 45:02 from the start, in Battle of Samar - What if TF34 was there?, archived from the original on 19 Aug 2022. From the entry technically
  • Segal would not approve of its ingredients (or maybe she would, in the interest of keeping her business afloat).2018 April 10, Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, Sam & Ilsa's Last Hurrah, New York City: Random House, →ISBN. From the entry sinful
  • Mellon & Sons was, incredibly, still afloat.2011, James Mellon, The Judge: A Life of Thomas Mellon, Founder of Fortune, Yale University Press, published 2011, →ISBN. From the entry tempest-tossed
  • The circles, which were ablaze with daffodils this spring, are now afloat with airy geum, cosmos, acidanthera and dahlias.2009 August 13, Anne Raver, “A Tapestry of Color, Unfolding All Year”, in New York Times. From the entry acidanthera
  • It's the nature of founderings that ships have buoyancy and are afloat one second, then lose buoyancy and sink the next.2004, Mark L. Thompson, Graveyard of the Lakes. From the entry foundering
  • While a significant number of PGs in the city have shut down over the last year, many others are struggling to stay afloat.2025 June 2, Sneha Ramesh, “Crises-hit PGs on the brink in Bengaluru”, in Deccan Herald. From the entry pg
  • Thus, a steady run of small, intimate scooplets interspersed with the occasional meaty piece had kept him afloat for the past few years.2009, Peter Burden, News of the World?: Fake Sheikhs and Royal Trappings. From the entry scooplet
  • The most obvious source for tracking pressed men is the muster books of the individual ships, for these encompass those impressed both afloat and ashore.2008, Nicholas Rogers, The Press Gang: Naval Impressment and its opponents in Georgian Britain, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 4. From the entry pressed
  • Llamas sit around all day doing what appears to be nothing while us humans run around working our butts off to stay afloat in society.1999 January 29, Smurf, “Smurves & Llamas”, in alt.religion.kibology (Usenet), retrieved 30 Aug 2022. From the entry smurves
  • “They cannot have gone down, for there has been no sea, and they were afloat after the yacht sank—I saw them all.”1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 150. From the entry sea
  • It’s a comedy (with a bit of drama sprinkled in) about a talent agency in Paris just trying to keep its business afloat and its clients happy.2024 August 15, Laura Hanrahan, “19 Shows You Need to Watch if You Love ‘Emily in Paris’”, in Cosmopolitan. From the entry run, don't walk
  • Once afloat, the galley was handed over to the castlewrights and hurdisers or bulwark-makers; these tradesmen are not so named in the accounts, but may be found elsewhere.2017, Susan Rose, Medieval Ships and Warfare. From the entry castlewright
  • But the boat was afloat, and with a hearty shove on the part of the navy and some hearty thanks on ours we were sent flying shipwards.1929, Blackwood's Magazine. From the entry shipwards

Meaning of afloat

  1. adverb In or into a state of floating.
  2. adverb In, or while in, a vessel at sea or on another body of water; at sea.
  3. adverb Under water (bearing floating objects).

Full definition of afloat

Questions about afloat in a sentence

How do you use afloat in a sentence?
Afloat is used as an adverb, adjective and preposition. For example: “A rubber duck and other toys were afloat in the bath.”
What is a short sentence with afloat?
“The decks are afloat.”
What does afloat mean?
Afloat means in or into a state of floating.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: afloat (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use afloat in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/afloat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.