cavorting

[ kuh-vawr-ting ]

adjective

1. romping or capering playfully about; frolicking:

   Here you can see Arctic life up close—snowy owls, white foxes, cavorting polar bear cubs, and the amazing sled dogs.

2. behaving in a high-spirited, playful way:

   During a game of musical statues, the shy boy stood motionless in the middle of the cavorting group.

3. partying or behaving in an unrestrained way, often with the implication of sexual activity.

noun

1. the act of frolicking playfully about, behaving in a high-spirited or unrestrained way, or partying, often with the implication of sexual activity:

   Recent reports of drunken cavorting with a 19-year-old model have damaged the mayor’s squeaky-clean image.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cavorting¹

First recorded in 1835–45; cavort ( def ) + -ing ²( def ) for the adjective senses; cavort ( def ) + -ing ¹( def ) for the noun sense

Example Sentences

No pictures of him cavorting naked in hotel rooms have yet been received by the Royalist.

From The Daily Beast

Difference is, when her brother finds snapshots of Nadia cavorting on a Spanish beach, the honor of the family is compromised.

From The Daily Beast

Has the kind of cavorting the Secret Service engaged in while in Colombia ever happened before?

From The Daily Beast

The novel, about a young debutante cavorting in New York City in the summer of 1945, was finally published in 2005.

From The Daily Beast

Not cavorting inconsequentially between consequential legislative votes and consequential congressional committee meetings.

From The Daily Beast

I'd admire to see him cavorting around on the pinnacles after horse-thieves or whisky-runners or a bunch of bad Indians.

From Project Gutenberg

And he didn't even feel tired, in spite of all the dancing and cavorting he had gone in for.

From Project Gutenberg

But we got together on a compromise at last, and now hes in uniform again and cavorting around like a two-year-old.

From Project Gutenberg

Hop got him then; but the damage was done, and the visitors lining the gridiron were cheering and 194 cavorting wildly.

From Project Gutenberg

When they reached the old honeybee tree, they saw Slab cavorting down to meet them.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• boisterous
• jaunty
• joyful
• joyous
• lighthearted
• merry
• spirited
• sprightly