Levity
['levɪtɪ] or ['lɛvəti]
Definition
(noun.) a manner lacking seriousness.
(noun.) feeling an inappropriate lack of seriousness.
Typed by Ethan--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The quality of weighing less than something else of equal bulk; relative lightness, especially as shown by rising through, or floating upon, a contiguous substance; buoyancy; -- opposed to gravity.
(n.) Lack of gravity and earnestness in deportment or character; trifling gayety; frivolity; sportiveness; vanity.
(n.) Lack of steadiness or constancy; disposition to change; fickleness; volatility.
Checked by Elisha
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Lightness.[2]. Frivolity, flightiness, giddiness, volatility, want of seriousness.
Editor: Percival
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Lightness, frivolity, inconstancy, flightiness, vanity, thoughtlessness
ANT:Earnestness, gravity, seriousness
Checker: Roland
Definition
n. lightness of weight: lightness of temper or conduct: thoughtlessness: disposition to trifle: vanity.
Checker: Ophelia
Examples
- Such levity is proper enough in the provinces, we make no doubt, but it ill suits the dignity of the metropolis. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- The vices of levity and vanity necessarily render him ridiculous, and are, besides, almost as ruinous to him as they are to the common people. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- No levity, miss! Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- A god could not have the cruel vanity of Dr. John, nor his sometime levity. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Is any man insane enough to imagine that this picnic of patriarchs sang, made love, danced, laughed, told anecdotes, dealt in ungodly levity? Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- No; for such a tone--call it familiarity, levity, equality, or what you will--would imply those social interchanges which do not exist. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- I will not suffer this tone of levity. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- For all his seeming levity and carelessness, he knew whatever he chose to know of the thoughts of her heart. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The mother, you know, had always that levity about her, which makes me anxious for the children. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It was cruel levity in you to do that. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- There began a puritan reaction in Mecca and Medina against the levity and luxury of Damascus. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Come, come, Sir,' said the magistrate sternly, 'don't let me see any of this levity here. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- It is usual to see men lose their levity, as they advance in years. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- But levity Is causal too, and makes the sum of weight. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- And this, Lavinia, is my reason for objecting to a tone of levity. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
Typist: Nathaniel