gravitate
verb
Rose Friedman
Did you know?
The force is strong in the family of words descended from the Latin adjective gravis, meaning “heavy”: gravitation has it, graviton has it, and gravitate has it, too. That force is gravity (gravity being another gravis descendent), a fundamental physical force that is responsible for bringing us literally back down to earth (or Tattooine, as it were). But you don’t have to be a full-fledged linguistic Jedi, young padawan, to know that gravity, like its Latin ancestor, also has figurative meanings, as does gravitate. When it first landed in the 17th century, gravitate meant “to apply pressure or weight,” and later it maintained its connection to literal gravity with a sense (still in use today) meaning “to move under the effect of gravitation.” It then, however, acquired a more general sense of “to move toward something” (such as toward a specific location), and finally a metaphorical sense of “to be attracted,” as in, “when choosing movies to watch she often gravitates toward space operas.”
Examples of gravitate in a Sentence
D’joumbarey A. Moreau, Miami Herald, 17 Feb. 2026
For anyone who gravitates toward food halls and market culture, Arthur Avenue Retail Market predates the trend by the better part of a century.
—Lauren Schuster, Kansas City Star, 17 Feb. 2026
True beginners gravitate to Dollar Mountain, a gentler learning area just across State Highway 75, leaving Bald Mountain refreshingly free of novices.
—Denny Lee, Travel + Leisure, 16 Feb. 2026
Instead, people are gravitating toward plantings that welcome pollinator friends like birds, bees, and butterflies.
—Shagun Khare, The Spruce, 15 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for gravitate
Cite this Entry
“Gravitate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gravitate. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
gravitate
verb
Medical Definition
gravitate
intransitive verb
