gravity

grav·i·ty

noun, often attributive \ˈgra-və-tē\

plural grav·i·ties

Definition of GRAVITY

1

a : dignity or sobriety of bearing

b : importance, significance; especially : seriousness

c : a serious situation or problem

2

: weight

3

a (1) : the gravitational attraction of the mass of the earth, the moon, or a planet for bodies at or near its surface (2) : a fundamental physical force that is responsible for interactions which occur because of mass between particles, between aggregations of matter (as stars and planets), and between particles (as photons) and aggregations of matter, that is 10^-39 times the strength of the strong force, and that extends over infinite distances but is dominant over macroscopic distances especially between aggregations of matter —called also gravitation, gravitational force — compare electromagnetism 2a, strong force, weak force

b : acceleration of gravity

c : specific gravity

Examples of GRAVITY

1. <the hospital waiting room was filled with the kind of gravity that inevitably accompanies worry>

Origin of GRAVITY

Middle French or Latin; Middle French gravité, from Latin gravitat-, gravitas, from gravis

First Known Use: 1505

Related to GRAVITY

Synonyms

earnest, graveness, earnestness, intentness, serious-mindedness, seriousness, soberness, sobriety, solemnity, solemnness, staidness

Antonyms

facetiousness, flightiness, flippancy, frivolity, frivolousness, levity, lightheartedness, lightness, play, unseriousness

Related Words

gravitas, humorlessness; decisiveness, deliberation, determination, firmness, purposefulness, resoluteness, resolve; absorption, attentiveness, concentration, engrossment, enthrallment, immersion, intensity

Near Antonyms

lightness, shallowness, superficiality; dalliance, dilettantism; cheerfulness, gaiety (also gayety), glee, high-spiritedness, merriment, mirth

Other Physics Terms

amplitude, centrifugal, centripetal, convection, gradient, hysteresis, kinetic, lase, quantum

Rhymes with GRAVITY

cavity

grav·i·ty

noun \ˈgrav-ət-ē\   (Medical Dictionary)

plural ; grav·i·ties

Medical Definition of GRAVITY

1

: weight 1—used chiefly in the phrase center of gravity

2

a : the gravitational attraction of the mass of the earth, the moon, or a planet for bodies at or near its surface; broadly : gravitation b : acceleration of gravity c : specific gravity

—gravity adjective