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Levity   /lˈɛvɪti/   Listen
noun
Levity  n.  
1.
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. "He gave the form of levity to that which ascended; to that which descended, the form of gravity." "This bubble by reason of its comparative levity to the fluidity that incloses it, would ascend to the top."
2.
Lack of gravity and earnestness in deportment or character; trifling gayety; frivolity; sportiveness; vanity. " A spirit of levity and libertinism." "He never employed his omnipotence out of levity."
3.
Lack of steadiness or constancy; disposition to change; fickleness; volatility. "The levity that is fatigued and disgusted with everything of which it is in possession."
Synonyms: Inconstancy; thoughtlessness; unsteadiness; inconsideration; volatility; flightiness. Levity, Volatility, Flightiness. All these words relate to outward conduct. Levity springs from a lightness of mind which produces a disregard of the proprieties of time and place.Volatility is a degree of levity which causes the thoughts to fly from one object to another, without resting on any for a moment. Flightiness is volatility carried to an extreme which often betrays its subject into gross impropriety or weakness. Levity of deportment, of conduct, of remark; volatility of temper, of spirits; flightiness of mind or disposition.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Levity" Quotes from Famous Books



... fancies to the full. It is, however, more probable that the Cardinal Montalto treated her follies with a grudging parsimony; for we soon find the Peretti household hopelessly involved in debt. Discord, too, arose between Vittoria and her husband on the score of a certain levity in her behaviour; and it was rumoured that even during the brief space of their union she had proved a faithless wife. Yet she contrived to keep Francesco's confidence, and it is certain that her family profited by their connection with the Peretti. Of her six brothers, Mario, the ...
— Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Second Series • John Addington Symonds

... death-blow to superstition, but left religion out in the cold. The general, the great offence Carlyle charges Voltaire with is, that "he intermeddled in religion without being himself in any measure religious; that he entered the Temple and continued there with a levity which, in any temple where men worship, can beseem no brother man; that, in a word, he ardently, and with long-continued effort, warred against Christianity, without understanding, beyond the mere superficies, ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... insolent, flippant, dissolute youth: aping the man of intrigue and levity: over-dressed, over-confident, inordinately vain of his personal appearance: distinguished as to his hair, cane, snuff-box, and singing-voice: and unhappily the son of a working shoemaker. Bent on loftier flights than such ...
— Miscellaneous Papers • Charles Dickens

... and shewed a deep interest in everything I saw. The good advocate arrived, and was surprised at the change in my appearance. He launched out in his usual jokes, and I followed him on that ground, yet I was careful not to give to my conversation the tone of levity which used to cause so much mirth in our travelling coach; so that, to, pay me a compliment, he told nee that, if I had had the sign of manhood shaved from my face, I had certainly transferred it to my mind. Donna Lucrezia ...
— The Memoires of Casanova, Complete • Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

... who will justly earn the enormous salaries that are at present being paid to inadequate aliens for road sweepings, and all will be well. At the same time the lawlessness ingrained by governors among the governed during the last thirty, forty, or it may be fifty years; the brutal levity of the public conscience in regard to public duty; the toughening and suppling of public morals, and the reckless disregard for human life, bred by impotent laws and fostered by familiarity with needless accidents and criminal neglect, will miraculously ...
— Letters of Travel (1892-1913) • Rudyard Kipling


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