flop

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/flɑːp/
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A loose heavy movement or fall, a public failure, a deceptive fall in sports, the first community cards in poker, and a floating-point calculation in computing.
Practice using flop in conversation until it feels natural

Examples

  • The defender flopped after barely being touched.
  • The benchmark reports flops separately from memory bandwidth.
  • A stack of papers flopped onto the floor.
  • One flop can be an addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division on floating-point numbers.
  • Critics called the gadget an expensive flop.

Similar words

FLOP
dive
numeric operation
fizzle
simulate
fake
floating-point operation
misfire
bomb
loll

Meanings

Fall or hang heavily

verb
physical
neutral
To drop, sit, lie, or hang in a loose, heavy, and often sudden way.

Examples

  • The tired dog flopped onto the rug.
  • Her wet hair flopped over one eye.
  • He flopped down beside the pool after practice.
  • The loose sign flopped in the wind.
  • A stack of papers flopped onto the floor.

Similar words

drop
slump
collapse
sag
flap
loll
sprawl

Fail badly

verb
entertainment
informal
To be unsuccessful, especially in public, commercial, or critical judgment.

Examples

  • The sequel flopped despite a huge advertising campaign.
  • His first restaurant flopped within six months.
  • The product flopped because customers found it confusing.
  • The joke flopped, and the room went quiet.
  • Several expensive apps flopped after poor reviews.

Similar words

fail
bomb
tank
misfire
fizzle
underperform

Unsuccessful thing

noun
entertainment
informal
A work, product, event, or attempt that fails badly or is poorly received.

Examples

  • The musical was a flop and closed within a week.
  • Critics called the gadget an expensive flop.
  • The campaign became a flop after the launch date slipped.
  • A box-office flop can still become popular years later.
  • The new menu was a flop with regular customers.

Similar words

failure
bomb
dud
washout
misfire
disaster

Fake contact or injury

verb
sports
informal
To fall or react dramatically in order to make a referee think an opponent committed a foul.

Examples

  • The defender flopped after barely being touched.
  • Officials warned players not to flop in the penalty area.
  • Fans booed when the forward flopped to win a call.
  • The league fined him for flopping during the game.
  • She stayed upright instead of trying to flop after contact.

Similar words

dive
simulate
exaggerate
fake
embellish

First poker community cards

noun
games
neutral
The first three shared cards dealt face up after the opening betting round in poker games such as Texas Hold'em and Omaha.

Examples

  • The flop came ace, king, and ten.
  • She checked after missing the flop.
  • A strong flop gave him two pair.
  • The table grew quiet when the dealer spread the flop.
  • He raised on the flop and folded on the turn.

Similar words

community cards
board
first three cards
opening board

Floating-point operation

noun
technology
technical
One arithmetic operation carried out on floating-point numbers, used when measuring computing work or speed.

Examples

  • The solver used billions of flops during the simulation.
  • A matrix multiplication can require many flops.
  • The benchmark reports flops separately from memory bandwidth.
  • Reducing unnecessary flops made the model faster.
  • One flop can be an addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division on floating-point numbers.

Similar words

floating-point operation
FLOP
arithmetic operation
numeric operation

Etymology

Probably a heavier-sounding variant of flap, first recorded around 1600 for flapping movement, with the heavy-fall sense from the 1800s and the failure sense later in the 1800s and early 1900s.

FAQ

What does flop mean as a verb?

Flop can mean to drop or hang heavily, to fail badly, or in sports to fake contact or injury.

What is a flop in entertainment?

A flop is a film, show, product, or event that fails badly or is poorly received.

What is the flop in poker?

The flop is the first three community cards dealt face up after the opening betting round.

What does flop mean in computing?

A flop is one floating-point arithmetic operation. FLOPS measures how many such operations happen per second.

What does flop mean in sports?

In sports, to flop is to exaggerate or fake contact so a referee calls a foul.

What is the past tense of flop?

The past tense is flopped, and the present participle is flopping.

Where does flop come from?

Flop is probably a heavier-sounding variant of flap, first tied to loose flapping movement.

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