buoyant

[ boi-uhnt, boo-yuhnt ]
See synonyms for buoyant on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. tending to float in a fluid.

  2. capable of keeping a body afloat, as a liquid.

  1. not easily depressed; cheerful.

  2. cheering or invigorating.

Origin of buoyant

1
First recorded in 1570–80; buoy + -ant

Other words for buoyant

Other words from buoyant

  • buoy·ant·ly, adverb
  • non·buoy·ant, adjective
  • non·buoy·ant·ly, adverb
  • un·buoy·ant, adjective
  • un·buoy·ant·ly, adverb

Words Nearby buoyant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use buoyant in a sentence

  • Nature, ever buoyant and imperative, does her best to remedy the ills created by "Man's inhumanity to Man."

    Glances at Europe | Horace Greeley
  • It was to me a new birth of faculties that resembled a new sense of being, a buoyant and elastic lightness of feelings and frame.

  • She was a most lovely girl, with a wild-rose complexion and starlike eyes, and full of life and buoyant hope.

    Ancestors | Gertrude Atherton
  • The water of dead seas, because of the additional weight of the substances which it holds, is extraordinarily buoyant.

    Outlines of the Earth's History | Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
  • She was a brunette—great black flashing eyes, full red lips, raven-black hair, skin suffused with the glow of buoyant health.

    The Everlasting Arms | Joseph Hocking

British Dictionary definitions for buoyant

buoyant

/ (ˈbɔɪənt) /


adjective
  1. able to float in or rise to the surface of a liquid

  2. (of a liquid or gas) able to keep a body afloat or cause it to rise

  1. cheerful or resilient

Origin of buoyant

1
C16: probably from Spanish boyante, from boyar to float, from boya buoy, ultimately of Germanic origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012