flops

American

[flops] / flɒps /

noun

Computers.

a measure of computer speed, equal to the number of floating-point operations the computer can perform per second (used especially in combination withmega-, giga-, tera- ).

flops British

acronym

floating-point operations per second: used as a measure of computer processing power (in combination with a prefix)

megaflops
gigaflops

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of flops

First recorded in 1985–90; shortening of fl(oating-point) op(erations per) s(econd)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Netflix, Warner, and Paramount amortized around $40 billion worth of content in the past 12 months, much of it on flops.

From Barron's

Men dig in flip‑flops through dense black earth, "cow dung", as a young girl sitting on full sacks calls it.

From Barron's

I rotate it so the large bow now flops over her face.

From Literature

Spiking production costs, a fear of flops and the risk of audience backlash have only added to this caution.

From The Wall Street Journal

But there have been plenty of epic flops, too.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023