cavort
Americanverb (used without object)
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cavorts,
present (3rd person singular)
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cavorted,
past participle, past
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cavorting
present participle
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to prance or caper about.
-
to behave in a high-spirited, festive manner; have a lively good time; revel.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cavortsimple
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cavortssimple
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have cavortedperfect
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has cavortedperfect
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am cavortingprogressive
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are cavortingprogressive
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is cavortingprogressive
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have been cavortingperfect progressive
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has been cavortingperfect progressive
Past
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cavortedsimple
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had cavortedperfect
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was cavortingprogressive
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were cavortingprogressive
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had been cavortingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cavort
An Americanism dating back to 1785–95; earlier cavault, perhaps cur(vet) ( def. ) + vault 2 ( def. )
Explanation
How to cavort, in one easy step: dance around all crazy, jumping on and over anything nearby like you just ate a lot of sugar. Give it a try! Cavorting requires a good mood, lots of energy, and some running room. Children love to cavort, and so do parents when they win the lottery. The origins of the word are unclear, perhaps coming from the word curvet, meaning “leap gracefully or energetically,” and leaping is a great addition to any cavorting. There are lots of synonyms, so if you ever get tired of cavorting, you could always prance, frolic, lark, rollick, romp, or carouse. The choice is yours.
Vocabulary lists containing cavort
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury
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"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury (1950)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The very first Christmas single is definitely scripted, but there’s still ample room for the four Beatles to cavort.
From Salon ● Dec. 23, 2025
But try to mingle and cavort outdoors or in well-ventilated areas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2024
Throughout "And Just Like That" LTW has been presented as a modelesque queen who occasionally descends from her luxury digs to cavort with Charlotte.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2023
According to an indictment, he said he liked to cavort with inmates because, given their lack of power, they couldn’t “ruin him.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 28, 2022
They named him Match in honor of the occasion and sent him over to the barn to cavort with Pocatell and Seabiscuit’s guard dog, Silver.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
With some deft, haunting touches in the lighting by Brad King and illusions by Skylar Fox, the cast cavorts grandly on Maruti Evans’s leafy suburban set.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2023
‘Laurel and Hardy on the Streets of Los Angeles’ It’s all about location, location, location as the legendary comedy duo capers and cavorts in three classic shorts shot right here in SoCal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2022
Chad Kelderman is deliciously ridiculous as Olivia’s pompous major-domo Malvolio, and Eric Ray Anderson gleefully cavorts as the sly party dog Sir Toby Belch.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 17, 2019
Shot in black-and-white, he Dolce Vitas before the Trevi Fountain, cavorts with a clown in Fellini homage.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2018
Up goes his head and tail, he buck jumps, cavorts, gambols, kicks up his heels, bounds stiff-legged, and generally performs like an irresponsible infant.
From The Land of Footprints by Stewart Edward White
He had a Clark Gable pencil mustache, raced sailboats, cavorted with the late communist leader Fidel Castro in Cuba, and at one point married Academy Award-winning actress and activist Jane Fonda.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, sentenced last year to 25 years in prison for fraud, cavorted with football great Tom Brady and spoke on stage with former President Bill Clinton.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2025
On “the beach”—an open stretch of snow between the parking lot and the lifts—skiers cavorted over pony kegs and hibachi grills.
From Slate ● Dec. 20, 2023
While her husband cavorted with Maurice Chevalier and members of the Beach Boys, Ms. Keane painted 16 hours a day in a locked room.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 29, 2022
The maroon goblin cavorted around the room in a feral tantrum, tearing down bookshelves, upsetting toy chests, and snapping the horn off the rocking horse.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
But Mr. Lithgow’s performance is infused with a sneaky playfulness evoking the “broken boy,” as Jessie puts it, still cavorting in the hulk of an elderly man.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
The challenge for Democrats is that the district doesn’t just resemble Behn’s Nashville-based turf that features hipsters rolling their eyes at bachelorette parties cavorting on pedal bars.
From Slate ● Dec. 2, 2025
The official trailer for the sequel shows the chirpy red-capped Italian plumber cavorting with his friends and nemeses in a colourful intergalactic universe.
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2025
At the age of 80, he's still cavorting around the world, playing sold out shows, recording new music and even writing a book about his beloved model train set.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2025
I imagined my friends out hunting for small birds, drinking the sweet milk from the cow’s udder, cavorting in the pond at the end of the stream.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
