buoyancy

Also buoy·ance

[boi-uhn-see, boo-yuhn-see]

noun

1. the power to float or rise in a fluid; relative lightness.

2. the power of supporting a body so that it floats; upward pressure exerted by the fluid in which a body is immersed.

3. lightness or resilience of spirit.

   Student well-being and buoyancy are especially important because of the relatively high incidence of depression and suicide.

buoyancy

/ ˈbɔɪənsɪ /

noun

1. the ability to float in a liquid or to rise in a fluid

2. the property of a fluid to exert an upward force (upthrust) on a body that is wholly or partly submerged in it

3. the ability to recover quickly after setbacks; resilience

4. cheerfulness

buoyancy

1. The upward force that a fluid exerts on an object that is less dense than itself. Buoyancy allows a boat to float on water and provides lift for balloons.

buoyancy

1. The force that causes objects to float. According to the principle of Archimedes, when a solid is placed in a fluid (a liquid or a gas), it is subject to an upward force equal in magnitude to the weight of the fluid it has displaced.

Other Word Forms

• nonbuoyancy noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of buoyancy¹

First recorded in 1705–15; buoy(ant) + -ancy

Example Sentences

Trading patterns should provide “a natural buoyancy for prices before the cold arrives.”

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The note of pop accessibility in Taub’s music and the satiric humor of her lyrics add to the buoyancy.

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While Wall Street drowned, Simons commissioned a floating monument to buoyancy.

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But for all its spatial buoyancy, it is curiously oppressive.

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“When you change your body and you become stronger, it changes everything inside the water, your buoyancy, your resistance,” he says.

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Related Words

• elasticity 
• resilience