floater

noun

float·​er ˈflō-tər 

1

a

: one that floats

b

: a person who floats something

2

: a person who votes illegally in various polling places

3

a

: a person without a permanent residence or regular employment

b

: a worker who moves from job to job

especially : one without fixed duties

4

: a pitched, thrown, or hit ball that moves through the air relatively slowly with little or no spin or rotation

5

: a policy insuring specific items of personal property (such as jewelry or art)

6

: a bit of optical debris (such as a dead cell or cell fragment) in the vitreous humor or lens that may be perceived as a spot before the eye

also : a spot in the visual field due to such debris

—usually used in plural

7

US : floating holiday

Examples of floater in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Young women in prom dresses and heels skitter past Shula; disco lights spin over partygoers with beers in hand, some lounging in inflatable floaters in the water, others dancing around its edges, one couple ankle-deep. —Namwali Serpell, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2025

Later, after a second-chance White floater put the Celtics up 104-99 with less than a minute to go, Horford deflected a Jamal Murray pass to Jokic, ran the floor, received a transition feed from Jaylen Brown and laid it in to essentially ice the game. —Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 3 Mar. 2025

DeRozan drove left, stepped through a double-team and buried a 14-foot baseline floater with 2.1 seconds remaining to give the Kings a 129-128 victory, adding to the frustration fans are feeling in Dallas. —Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 11 Feb. 2025

James Harden hit a floater with 11.9 seconds left to force overtime and Kawhi Leonard made a left-handed hook shot at the buzzer to give the Clippers a 111-110 victory Sunday evening at Intuit Dome in Inglewood. —Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 10 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1717, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for floater

• boater
• motor
• rotor
• voter
• locomotor
• psychomotor
• servomotor
• vasomotor
• oculomotor
• sensorimotor
• premotor
• promoter

Medical Definition

floater

noun

float·​er ˈflōt-ər 

: a bit of optical debris (as a dead cell or cell fragment) in the vitreous body or lens that may be perceived as a spot before the eye

also : a spot in the visual field due to such debris

—usually used in plural compare muscae volitantes

Legal Definition

floater

noun

float·​er

1

[from the notion that the policy “floats” with the goods it insures, wherever they might be located] : a policy or supplemental attachment to a policy insuring specific items of personal property (as jewelry or art)

specifically : a policy of insurance to protect against loss or damage of goods in transit or goods (as jewels) naturally subject to use in various places

called also floating policy

2

: a debt security that yields an indexed variable rate of interest

especially : floating rate note at note