When I throw a lingering potion so that it hits an entity from above, it creates the effect "cloud" above the entity. If the entity is a creature/player, it does not get the effect unless it jumps into the cloud. Also, when throwing the potion head-on, the height of the cloud depends on where the creature/player is hit. A hit in the head, for instance, creates a cloud above the ground (but still low enough any creature/player will receive the effect if they walk into the cloud).
To reproduce, simply throw a lingering potion at an entity from above.
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gaspoweredpick
If you're talking about the potion being positioned incorrectly (on the Y axis), causing it to not inflict damage, that's MC-45749 instead.
violine1101
There's the newer bug report MC-207101 about this specific issue (rather than it not being affected by gravity); I've changed this bug report to point to the newer issue instead.
I believe this resolution is incorrect, MC-88368 looks similar but describes another issue.
MC-88368 talks about how the player threw a potion at the Ender Dragon, the dragon wasn't affected by the potion (intended) and the area cloud stayed on the same place (also intended).
I can see how someone could mistake both as duplicates, but in MC-88368 we have no idea of what was the player expectation. Did they want the potion cloud to move? Affect the dragon?
In this MC-97844 there is a clear description of the problem and the expectation - entities below the potion cloud, that CAN be affected by potions, should be affected by it. It doesn't look like this is intended because it would make lingering potions less useful than splash potions.