floating point

adjective

Of a number, written in two parts as a mantissa (also called significand, the value of the significant digits) and characteristic (order of magnitude / the power of a number base) e.g. 0.314159 × 10¹.

Opposite
fixed point
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Meanings

adjectivefloating point (not comparable)

alternative floating-point

  1. not comparablemathematicsOf a number, written in two parts as a mantissa (also called significand, the value of the significant digits) and characteristic (order of magnitude / the power of a number base) e.g. 0.314159 × 10¹.
  2. not comparablecomputingOf the internal representation of such a number as a pair of integers.

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite
fixed point

Translations

Chinese Cantonese 浮点, 浮點 /浮点
  • 浮点 (fau⁴ dim²)computing
  • 浮點 /浮点 (fau⁴ dim²)computing
Chinese Mandarin 浮点, 浮點 /浮点
  • 浮点 (fúdiǎn)computing
  • 浮點 /浮点 (fúdiǎn)computing
Finnish liukuluku-
  • liukuluku-computing
French virgule flottante
  • virgule flottantecomputing
German Gleitkomma
  • Gleitkommacomputing
Hungarian lebegőpontos
  • lebegőpontoscomputing
Japanese 浮動小数点
  • 浮動小数点 (fudō shōsūten)computing
Korean 부동 소수점
  • 부동 소수점 (budong sosujeom)computing
Polish zmiennoprzecinkowy
  • zmiennoprzecinkowycomputing
Portuguese ponto flutuante
  • ponto flutuantecomputing
Romanian virgulă mobilă
  • virgulă mobilăcomputing
Spanish punto flotante, coma flotante
  • punto flotantecomputing
  • coma flotantecomputing
Swedish flyttal
  • flyttalcomputing
Cite this entry
APA

floating point. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/floating%20point

MLA

“floating point.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/floating%20point. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “floating point,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/floating%20point.

Source: floating point on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.