levitate
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb
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to rise or cause to rise and float in the air, without visible agency, attributed, esp formerly, to supernatural causes
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(tr) med to support (a patient) on a cushion of air in the treatment of severe burns
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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levitatesimple
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levitatessimple
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have levitatedperfect
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has levitatedperfect
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am levitatingprogressive
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are levitatingprogressive
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is levitatingprogressive
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have been levitatingperfect progressive
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has been levitatingperfect progressive
Past
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levitatedsimple
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had levitatedperfect
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was levitatingprogressive
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were levitatingprogressive
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had been levitatingperfect progressive
Future
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.
"We can levitate objects against gravity by immersing them in a sound field called a standing wave."
From Science Daily • Mar. 22, 2026
“Good days I levitate off the ground/Some days I can’t get out of bed,” they sing, later adding “baby, I barely get through each day.”
From New York Times • Jan. 26, 2024
It’s the spell you cast to levitate something.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 21, 2023
This vapour layer reduces the rate of heat transfer and makes liquid cooling on the hot surface ineffective, causing the liquid to levitate and skid across the surface.
From Science Daily • Nov. 10, 2023
“Well, I can never levitate anything right, so we ’re even,” Widget says, but he takes her cup without complaint and concentrates until it too is steaming and hot again.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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.
