hovering

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hover

Hovering means moving through the air without touching anything or going anywhere fast.

When people say something is hovering, they usually mean that it's floating around an idea or decision instead of making a choice. For example, if you're trying to decide whether to buy a new car and can't make up your mind, someone might say, "You've been hovering over this decision for weeks." They mean that you're not quite committed one way or the other, but keeping an open mind.

How common is "hovering"?

Word hovering is considered rare in modern English.
It appears most frequently in fiction texts and less often in other writings.

Definitions

verb

To float in the air.
Example: The hummingbird hovered by the plant.
To linger or hang in one place, especially in an uncertain manner.
Example: His pen hovered above the paper.
To waver, or be uncertain.
Example: Filling in the voting form, I hovered between Labour and Liberal Democrat.
To place the cursor over a hyperlink or icon without clicking.
Example: A tooltip appears when you hover over this link.

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noun

The act of one who hovers.

Real examples of "hovering" in context

Could Jack Have Survived on the Titanic Raft? | MythBusters | Discovery

Entertainment

Well, it turns out there were really good records from the night of the sinking, and the water temperature would have been hovering just below freezing, so around 28, 29 degrees Fahrenheit.

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