free-floating

[ free-floh-ting ]

adjective

1. (of an emotional state) lacking an apparent cause, focus, or object; generalized:

   free-floating hostility.

2. (of people) uncommitted, as to a doctrine, political party, etc.; independent:

   free-floating opportunists.

3. capable of relatively free movement.

free-floating

adjective

1. unattached or uncommitted, as to a cause, a party, etc

Derived Forms

• ˌfree-ˈfloater, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of free-floating¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

In Moore, the court majority thankfully rejected a crazy argument, key to Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 elections, that state legislatures have free-floating power in federal elections to do whatever they want in appointing electors, changing rules, unencumbered by state courts, state constitutions, governors, and other state actors.

From Slate

I am not going to link here to the two dozen articles I have written in the years since 2016, attempting to graft agreed-upon meanings to free-floating Trumpian output because, like the rest of the press, I once mistakenly believed that politics, policy, law, and elected office somehow correlated to language and words with shared public meaning.

From Slate

A few years ago, the court made up the “major questions doctrine,” the principle that when an agency makes a decision that involves a “major question,” courts have a free-floating veto to block it.

From Slate

Instead of definition, the staging gives us a muddle of free-floating feeling.

From Los Angeles Times

However, this summer the Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference, which means “virtually every decision an agency makes will be subject to a free-floating veto by federal judges with zero expertise or accountability to the people,” Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern explained.

From Slate