levitate
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb
-
to rise or cause to rise and float in the air, without visible agency, attributed, esp formerly, to supernatural causes
-
(tr) med to support (a patient) on a cushion of air in the treatment of severe burns
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of levitate
Explanation
To levitate is to float in the air, defying gravity. It also means to cause something to do that. With a magnetic force — or a magic wand — you might be able to make your teacher levitate above your classroom. Levitate comes from the Latin levis, meaning “light.” Something that is light can levitate easily. Magicians levitate things like pigs and snowmobiles and women as part of their shows. In architecture, certain structures can be raised or suspended so as to appear to levitate.
Vocabulary lists containing levitate
The Things They Carried
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The Wednesday Wars
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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
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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.
I marveled at how the hidden-in-the-floor projections allow the ghost to levitate, but I also increasingly felt a sense of mourning.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 17, 2025
Those droplets constantly off-gas carbon dioxide, causing them to levitate slightly above the surfaces they sit on.
From Science Daily • Apr. 16, 2024
Planetary scientists think that electrostatic forces generated from this interaction levitate dust or ice above the ring to form the spokes, though after several decades no theory perfectly predicts the spokes.
From Science Daily • Dec. 21, 2023
It’s the spell you cast to levitate something.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 21, 2023
Maya asks, hanging on tight to her mom’s hand, like she could levitate and float away.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
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.
