Library / English Dictionary

FLOP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: flopped    , flopping   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of throwing yourself down

Example:

he landed on the bed with a great flop

Synonyms:

collapse; flop

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("flop" is a kind of...):

descent (the act of changing your location in a downward direction)

Derivation:

flop (fall loosely)

floppy (hanging limply)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A complete failure

Example:

the play was a dismal flop

Synonyms:

bust; fizzle; flop

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("flop" is a kind of...):

failure (an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flop"):

bomb; dud; turkey (an event that fails badly or is totally ineffectual)

Derivation:

flop (fail utterly; collapse)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Someone who is unsuccessful

Synonyms:

dud; flop; washout

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("flop" is a kind of...):

failure; loser; nonstarter; unsuccessful person (a person with a record of failing; someone who loses consistently)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An arithmetic operation performed on floating-point numbers

Example:

this computer can perform a million flops per second

Synonyms:

floating-point operation; flop

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("flop" is a kind of...):

computer operation; machine operation (an elementary operation that a computer is designed and built to perform)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fall suddenly and abruptly

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "flop" is one way to...):

come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fall loosely

Example:

He flopped into a chair

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "flop" is one way to...):

break; cave in; collapse; fall in; founder; give; give way (break down, literally or metaphorically)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence examples:

The children flop in the rocking chair

There flop some children in the rocking chair

Derivation:

flop (the act of throwing yourself down)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Fail utterly; collapse

Example:

The project foundered

Synonyms:

fall flat; fall through; flop; founder

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "flop" is one way to...):

fail; go wrong; miscarry (be unsuccessful)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

The business is going to flop

Derivation:

flop (a complete failure)

 III. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Exactly

Example:

he fell flop on his face

Synonyms:

flop; right

Classified under:

Adverbs

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Sense 2

Meaning:

With a flopping sound

Example:

he tumbled flop into the mud

Classified under:

Adverbs

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