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afloat

Adjective
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Floating or drifting on air or water, not fixed in place; used in poetry to suggest freedom, instability, or suspension.

Detailed Definition
In poetry, afloat often suggests something suspended or drifting rather than firmly attached. Here it describes the star as hanging in the sky, emphasizing distance and unreachable height.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The nearest star / That hangs afloat” presents the star as suspended in space; “A leaf lay afloat on the flooded road” uses the literal sense of floating; “The lanterns seemed afloat in dusk” creates visual weightlessness; “After the verdict, he felt afloat and unmoored” shifts the word to emotional uncertainty
Additional Notes
In the line "That hangs afloat," the word is a slightly literary use that some readers may pause over because it is less common than everyday adjectives like floating.; Found in the poem, De Profundis by Christina Rossetti
Also Known As
buoyant floating drifting suspended
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