Dictionary

levity en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈlɛ.vɪ.ti/ (UK, US)

Etymology

Coined in 1564, from Latin levitās (“lightness, frivolity”), from levis (“lightness (in weight)”). Cognate to lever, and more distantly, light.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) A lightness of manner or speech, frivolity; flippancy; a lack of appropriate seriousness; an inclination to make a joke of serious matters.
   • An attempt to inject a little levity into the proceedings.
2. (obsolete, uncountable, usually) A lack of steadiness.
3. (uncountable, usually) The state or quality of being light, buoyancy.
   • […]it would really seem as if there was something nomadic in our natures, a principle of levity and restlessness […] 1838, Robert Montgomery Bird, Peter Pilgrim:
   • Most of the confidences were unsought - frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation or a hostile levity […] 1925, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1953, →ISBN:
   • Hydrogen […] rises in the air on account of its levity. 1869, Mary Somerville, On Molecular and Microscopic Science, 1.1.12:
4. (countable, usually) A lighthearted or frivolous act.
   • His incorrigible levities had probably lost him the countenance of most of his more serious acquaintances[… 1882, H.D. Traill, Sterne:
   • […] or do the people joy less than common in their levities?" 1872, J. Fenimore Cooper, The Bravo:
   • For though it be something wonderful to tell that any should have hearts so hardened, in the midst of such a calamity, as to rob and steal, yet certain it is that all sorts of villainies, and even levities and debaucheries, were then practiced in the town as openly as ever: I will not say quite as frequently, because the number of people were many ways lessened. 1665, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year, Gutenberg:

Forms

Antonyms

gravity

Deriveds

levitous

Translations (58)

de Unernsthaftigkeit (lightness of manner or speech) · hy թեթեւամտություն (lighthearted or frivolous act) · de Unbeschwertheit (lightness of manner or speech) · ru лёгкость (state or quality of being light) · cs lehkomyslnost (lightness of manner or speech) · et kerglus (lightness of manner or speech) · cy ysgafnder (lightness of manner or speech) · it levità (lightness of manner or speech) · bg вятърничавост (lighthearted or frivolous act) · de Leichtsinn (lightness of manner or speech) · ru легкомы́слие (lightness of manner or speech) · fr frivolité (lighthearted or frivolous act) · nl frivoliteit (lightness of manner or speech) · fi kepeys (lightness of manner or speech) · fr légèreté (state or quality of being light) · es levedad (state or quality of being light) · ru несерьёзность (lightness of manner or speech) · es ingravidez (state or quality of being light) · hy թեթեւություն (state or quality of being light) · cs lehkovážnost (lighthearted or frivolous act) · fr légèreté (lightness of manner or speech) · ro neseriozitate (lightness of manner or speech) · es ligereza (state or quality of being light) · ga éadroime (lightness of manner or speech) · de Leichtfertigkeit (lightness of manner or speech) · bg несериозност (lightness of manner or speech) · es liviandad (state or quality of being light) · ru ветреность (lightness of manner or speech) · cs lehkovážnost (lightness of manner or speech) · fi päähänpisto (lighthearted or frivolous act) · fi kevytmielisyys (lighthearted or frivolous act) · bg лекомислие (lighthearted or frivolous act) · de Lockerheit (lightness of manner or speech) · es ligereza (lightness of manner or speech) · es liviandad (lighthearted or frivolous act) · nl luchtig (lighthearted or frivolous act) · de Leichtfertigkeit (lighthearted or frivolous act) · fa جلفی (lightness of manner or speech) · hy թեթեւություն (lightness of manner or speech) · pt leviandade (lighthearted or frivolous act) · fa سبکسری (lighthearted or frivolous act) · nl luchthartigheid (lighthearted or frivolous act) · nl lichtzinnigheid (lightness of manner or speech) · la levitās (lightness of manner or speech) · ru вольность (lighthearted or frivolous act) · de Leichtigkeit (lightness of manner or speech) · cs frivolnost (lighthearted or frivolous act) · es ligerez (state or quality of being light) · de Ungezwungenheit (lightness of manner or speech) · cs zlehčování (lightness of manner or speech) · hy թեթեւսոլիկություն (lighthearted or frivolous act) · fr nonchalance (lightness of manner or speech) · pt leveza (lightness of manner or speech) · fi keveys (state or quality of being light) · fa سبکی (state or quality of being light) · hu fesztelenség (lightness of manner or speech) · cs lehkost (state or quality of being light) · fi kevytmielisyys (lightness of manner or speech)