flop

1 of 4

verb

flopped; flopping
Synonyms of flopnext

intransitive verb

1
: to swing or move loosely : flap
2
: to throw or move oneself in a heavy, clumsy, or relaxed manner
flopped into the chair
3
: to change or turn suddenly
4
: to go to bed
a place to flop at night
5
: to fail completely
The play flopped.

transitive verb

: to move or drop heavily or noisily : cause to flop
flopped the bundles down
flopper noun

flop

2 of 4

adverb

: right, squarely
fell flop on my face

flop

3 of 4

noun (1)

1
: an act or sound of flopping
2
: a complete failure
The movie was a flop.
3
slang : a place to sleep
especially : flophouse
4
: dung
cow flop
also : a piece of dung

flop

4 of 4

noun (2)

plural flops
: a unit of measure for calculating the speed of a computer equal to one floating-point operation per second
Supplied by IBM, with a billion flops (floating point operations per second) and a capacity to expand to 60 billion flops with the addition of other processors and memory, it will be among the 10 most sophisticated computers in the world.Eleanor Wilson
usually used in combination
gigaflop
A GPU [=graphics processing unit] can deliver hundreds of billions of operations per second—some GPUs more than a teraflop, or a trillion operations per second—while requiring only slightly more electrical power and cooling than a CPU.Andrea Di Blas et al.

Examples of flop in a Sentence

Verb He flopped down onto the bed. She flopped into the chair with a sigh. All of their attempts have flopped miserably. The curtains were flopping around in the breeze. Noun (1) The movie was a total flop. It fell to the ground with a flop.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Verb
Brown has talked trash about Sixers center Joel Embiid and has accused him of flopping. Mark Medina, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026 Video shows Neil flopping his blubbery body around on the street, destroying fences and cuddling with traffic cones. Julia Gomez, USA Today, 1 July 2026
Noun
Trade the tricorn hats, bonnets and homespun shirts for flip flops, sneakers and soccer jerseys, and the intrepid revolutionaries of 1776 would have looked a lot like the people of 2026. Katherine Ott, The Conversation, 2 July 2026 The relaxed and roomy silhouette is perfect for keeping you comfortable on long strolls and during leisurely lunches, and pairs beautifully with everything from flip flops to comfy loafers or heeled sandals. Sophie Dodd, Travel + Leisure, 1 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for flop

Word History

Etymology

Verb

alteration of flap entry 2

Noun (2)

floating-point operation

First Known Use

Verb

1602, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Adverb

circa 1726, in the meaning defined above

Noun (1)

1823, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1976, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of flop was in 1602

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Flop.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flop. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.

Kids Definition

flop

1 of 2 verb
flopped; flopping
1
: to swing or bounce loosely : flap about
a hat brim flopping
2
a
: to throw oneself down in a heavy, clumsy, or relaxed manner
flopped into the chair
b
: to throw or drop suddenly and heavily or noisily
flopped the bundles down with a thud
3
: to fail completely
the play flopped

flop

2 of 2 noun
1
: an act or sound of flopping
2
: a complete failure : dud

More from Merriam-Webster on flop

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster