levity

American  

[lev-i-tee] / ˈlɛv ɪ ti /

noun

• levities
  plural

1. lightness of mind, character, or behavior; lack of appropriate seriousness or earnestness.

   Synonyms:

   giddiness, triviality, flippancy, frivolity

2. an instance or exhibition of this.

   Synonyms:

   giddiness, triviality, flippancy, frivolity

3. fickleness.

4. lightness in weight.

---

levity British  

/ ˈlɛvɪtɪ /

noun

1. inappropriate lack of seriousness

2. fickleness or instability

3. archaic lightness in weight

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• levities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of levity

1555–65; < Latin levitās lightness, frivolity, equivalent to levi ( s ) light + -tās -ty ²

Explanation

Joking that your dead grandmother "never looked better" could inject some levity, or frivolity, into her funeral, but your relatives might find your joke inappropriate to the occasion. Levity literally means "lightness," and it's often an attempt to inject some lightness or humor into an otherwise somber situation. Telling your Aunt Edna a joke while she recuperates from a skiing accident could provide the levity needed to brighten her mood. Yet levity is often used to describe humor that's not appropriate to the occasion, like telling jokes during a funeral.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

levity levities

"We felt there needed to be a sense of relief and levity for the audience. So, we can ease in and out of it. Otherwise, it's a lot."

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Still, some within and around the court saw him as the court’s glue, bringing levity in his interactions with his colleagues and avoiding hard-edge commentary in his opinions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026

In our dire age, a little bit of levity can often feel like a wager, staking your bets on an audience’s bandwidth for fun.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

I think the answer has something to do with a desire for levity.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026

These elements were acted on by two forces: gravity, the tendency for earth and water to sink, and levity, the tendency for air and fire to rise.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking

But these levities were ill becoming the august occasion.

From From the Easy Chair, series 3 by George William Curtis

These levities were at first encouraged by the Church, but afterwards, seeing the abuse of them, the priests were compelled to reprimand and restrain the people.

From Christmas: Its Origin and Associations Together with Its Historical Events and Festive Celebrations During Nineteen Centuries by William Francis Dawson

This time twelvemonth, for example, you, my dear doctor, may be a bishop, and not over inclined to these harmless levities.

From Sir Brook Fossbrooke, Volume I. by Charles James Lever

I wonder if, in the midst of the stammered and blurted incoherences, the lapses and levities, of this quaint book, a sort of "orientation," as the theologians say now, has emerged at all?

From Visions and Revisions A Book of Literary Devotions by John Cowper Powys

Their selection has uniformly tended either to inform and enlighten the understanding, to inculcate the purest lessons of morality, or to unbend the mind with innocent levities.

From The New-York Weekly Magazine or Miscellaneous Repository by Various

Related Words

• frivolity
• giddiness
• hilarity
• mirth
• repartee