Is the word "float" used with aircraft/airplanes? I thought "float" was more used with ships, boat, etc. How do I use the word "float"?

It could be but it's not common, unless you are referring to sea-planes which can go on the water. Float might be used artistically to describe an airplane. Such as "The jet flew so high in the sky it appeared to be floating among the clouds."

Not for planes, but it can be used for things that drift slowly and gently through the air, e.g. a balloon, a feather, a cloud, a parachute, leaves, a plastic bag, dandelion seeds. OED: "To move freely and gently in or through the air, as if buoyed up or carried along by it." “Float, V., Sense I.5.a.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, March 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/5126065915. --- ♬ Floating in the summer sky ♫ ♬ Ninety-nine red balloons go by ♫ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiwgOWo7mDc&t=72s

Like most words, there is a technical use, and there is a more poetic use. We use float for the normal stuff like boats and blimps. True. We also use it in cases like this: Her new dress floated as she danced. The value of the stock floated between 14 and 17 dollars throughout the day. My mind has been floating around all day, and I can't concentrate. All of those phrases share a sense of random, calm movement.

I think you could use it in a metaphorical sense to indicate effortless flight: 'I saw a gull up high, floating through the sky without a care in the world'. Obviously it isn't floating in the narrow sense.

Hi there, I'm actually a private pilot and a ground instructor. Despite what some people are saying, we actually do say float relatively often. When coming in to land on a runway, you want to be quite slow, usually close to the speed at which you stall. Once you are close enough to the ground, you pull the yoke back, and enter what we call a flare. As you flare, you will float down the runway, meaning you will be flying very low to the ground, but won't descend. Once you flare long enough, your speed will decrease to a point where the plane can no longer float above the runway, and will sink down and touch down onto the runway. I think we use a lot of nautical terms, because air can be very similar to a liquid in some ways.

In this context it would be associated with balloons, not planes.

We all float down here. 

Floating connotes something unpowered that is within or on another object or substance and is being guided by currents. So think like a buoy or a boat on water, or let's say trash suspended in seawater. So what is similar in air, so you could think of gliding or soaring. Like a hot air balloon floating up or over the trees. Or like a glider floating down the mountain. Or an airplane floating towards the runway? I hope its engines are still working.

Yes but it's somewhat poetic or metaphoric.

float refers to bouancy in a fluid. people can float in water. balloons can float in air.  anything can float or sink in a fluid if the relative density is right

Look at the definition that applies to "float" in the image you posted "maintain height in the air without flapping wings or using engine power" - that's key. "Float" could be used with a plane in a literal sense anytime it's in the air and not using it's engines to stay in the air (think engine failur or even landing). We might also use "float" in a non-literal way to describe the appearance of a plane from the ground - where we can't hear or feel the engines, though we would probably say "the plane **appeared** to float across the sky".

I think the simplest way to look at it might be that floating is when something doesn’t require effort to stay up. A boat floats by itself. A swimmer isn’t floating unless they stop and let buoyancy take over. A paper airplane floats through the air, as does a balloon or a hang glider. An airplane could be described as floating down when its engines die or when trying to land but hits a pocket of wind and gains altitude.

It’s similar, in the sense that you could describe a bird as soaring or floating in the air.

I thought it was used more on the stock market

It's not used with airplanes, but it is used with some other types of aircraft, particularly balloons. I think that "float" implies a kind of passivity. A plane doesn't float; it flies. It's more active in the way that it moves through the air.

“float” here is specifically without an engine or flapping wings, that’s a hot air balloon or blimp or dirigible. You could also say a glider floats on the wind, but that’s a slight stretch. For these specific type of aircraft “float” is the correct word, but you would not use it for an airplane.

People say that you can float on air. Floating is the same as flying even though you might be moving forward or coasting, you’re still floating, not falling. I’d say maybe a propeller or small plane can float for a period of time without stalling, but jets don’t “float” because they aren’t coasting they are propelling forward at a high speed. Also, some planes actually land on water and do float when they land and need to be moored like a boat until they take off again. I forget what these planes are called. Might be a “hydroplane?” Not sure…. https://www.google.com/search?q=define+float&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari&iga=0#ebo=0 The top of these ^^ search results include a definition for floating on air or water.

Also you can temporarily float in an elevator if it does a sort of “jump” before it settles down on a floor when you are going up. It goes up a little past the floor then when it drops down you tend to hover for a millisecond or so.

Use float if the vessel would not fall or sink if unpowered. Balloons and airships float. Parachutes may float downward poetical as do dandelion seeds.

to say something is "floating" more generally means that its *rest state* (i.e. without actively using any of its own energy) is to *not fall*, in a case where one might expect that it would. Boats are said to "float" in water because other solid objects usually *sink* in water, but boats don't fall. Balloons "float" because they stay up in the air without anything pushing/holding it up. Astronauts in space "float" because they're in a zero-gravity environment. Planes don't "float" normally, but other forms of aircraft do (such as blimps) and even a plane or bird might be said to be floating in the sky if it doesn't look like it's moving at all, but it's not falling either. This usually happens when there's strong winds from below/in front which counteract the forces that normally work to make it fall or move forwards. The word 'float' is often used in metaphorical contexts as well, like someone might say "I feel like I'm floating" to mean that they're really happy in a way that feels completely effortless, natural, and all-encompassing.

If a plane, for one reason or another, turns off or loses it’s engines, you could say that it is floating, although to me, that is only accurate if the craft is light enough that the wind is sufficient to keep it aloft. If an airplane loses power to it’s engines and it is moving downwards gracefully, not plummeting, I would be more likely to say it is gliding or coasting. Balloons float, dandelion seeds float, a hot air balloon floats.

No, not really with aircraft (except for blimps). To use “float” in relation to something in the sky would be more attributed to lightweight objects, such as balloons, birds, or a plastic bag caught in the wind.

Almost always for low or no speed vehicles. Blimps, birds fighting wind, etc. "Just floating there" vs "flying by"

Float is usually used to imply something hanging in the air (or water) without moving very fast: think a balloon or a life preserver. Most people would use fly for an airplane. You’re absolutely right that float is more associated with boats, because they float on top of the water even when the engines are off.

There are two qualifiers to use floating 1. An object or craft is stationary or stable, relative to the influence of gravity, on or within a non solid medium ( meaning a liquid or gas) 2. Said object maintains that position by an imperceptible means. That can be a difference in density/buoyancy/pressure or it can be a hidden, passive support structure. The key detail is that it’s suspended by a self intrinsic property. Balloons float because of they intrinsically generate lift by their physical properties. Plains do not float because they need propulsion in order to generate lift. Everything “floats” in the vacuum of space because earth’s gravity is negated. Boats float on top of the water because they are less dense than the water it’s self, but the same can be said for submarines that “float” under the water’s surface, in the water column. Both are passively suspended in a non-solid medium. Lastly shelves can be considered to “float” when they have no visible structure supporting them, but this is a very niche use case.

Airplanes that can land on water (yay words) will float on floats

The definition there is key "maintain height in the air without flapping wings or engine power." You could maybe say that about a glider but not a regular airplane with engines.

Looking at the definition, the "without flapping of wings or use of an engine" sorts out the differences. Airplanes, helicopters, and the sort need their engine running in order to maintain elevation, so they do not float. But blimps, balloons, and the sort don't need a running engine in order to stay in the air, and so they do float. Putting it more generally, is the thing staying in the air via some form of propulsion, or is it staying in the air because of buoyancy, air resistance, or something like that. Is it staying in the air through active methods or through passive methods?  (I'm a native speaker, but I never thought to parse this word in detail, hence my leaning on the definition, lol)

float is used for things like hot air balloons, zeppelins, blimps, balloons etc. It's not really used with airplanes. It evokes something to do with buoyancy in my opinion. Like you're being carried by the waves or the wind, lightly and quietly moving through the air.

Planes can float on water. They can also appear to float in midair under certain wind/speed conditions, so using that word to describe them would be appropriate.

Float planes as far as I'm aware are lake hoppers.

If you come in for a landing too fast the aeroplane will not want to touch down and will instead "float" down the runway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHuezTAqgOY

Not really. I mean, you could use it, but it's quite unusual. To me, if someone says that a plane is floating, it sounds like it's not being propelled (e.g. the engine is off) and simply moving slowly through the air. It's not really something that planes do, hence it's not used.

>Is the word "float" used with aircraft/airplanes? Not really. The only example I can think of is blimps—they float. Did you see float used in a particular instance/example? If you could share it here it'd be easier to answer your question.

You can float on water. You can float on air. But even if this is a correct usage it certainly isn't common.

If you told me a plane was floating I'd assumed it did a water landing

It is not generally used for an airplane flying in the air, but it can be used for specific behaviors an airplane can do. “The pilot approached with too much speed and the airplane floated too far down the runway before settling to the ground.” But no, powered, directional flight is normally not floating.