levitate
Americanverb (used without object)
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levitates,
present (3rd person singular)
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levitated,
past participle, past
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levitating
present participle
verb (used with object)
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levitates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
levitated,
past participle, past
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levitating
present participle
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.
See Examples For:
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
This causes microdroplets to levitate and jump off the surface within milliseconds at lower temperatures because the speed of boiling can be controlled by changing the height of the pillars.
From Science Daily ● May 24, 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
Hazel used her abilities to levitate some items from the bottom of the sea.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
Especially not a green, alien orb that levitates him.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
That said, when Michael Keaton shows up, the movie virtually levitates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
The South Korean researchers provided a video of what they say is LK-99 exhibiting the Meissner effect, but superconductors aren’t the only things that float above magnets—graphite, for example, also levitates.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 27, 2023
André De Shields, still riding high from his Tony-winning triumph in “Hadestown,” practically levitates as Willy’s brother, Ben, a character who enters the play on a cloud of surreal remembrance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2022
Tano almost loses his balance, and he levitates in the air to steady himself.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
There was the time — actually, it happened twice — when her character, Dr. Marlena Evans, was famously possessed by the devil and even levitated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
During tests, eggs released one after another with minimal effort; with a bit of oil, they practically levitated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
Interest in AI has levitated shares of Nvidia, Broadcom, and their ilk, but also stoked fresh fears of an AI bubble.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2025
Above the racetrack, a handful of ytterbium ions are trapped and levitated by a train of electrical, radiofrequency, and laser pulses.
From Science Magazine ● May 30, 2024
They levitated off the ground and started dragging him away from us.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
Multiply rising earnings by a higher ratio of share price to earnings, and you get a levitating stock market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
The effect of it all is so electric, it’s liable to leave you levitating.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2024
Rafael Nadal, left arm across his chest, feet levitating above the court and mouth agape, has just walloped a trademark forehand winner.
From BBC ● May 24, 2024
It measured a weak pull, just 30aN, on a tiny particle 0.43mg in size by levitating it in freezing temperatures a hundredth of a degree above absolute zero -- about minus-273 degrees Celsius.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 25, 2024
“Your elf’s scared of heights, and those wizards in masks were levitating people! You can’t blame her for wanting to get out of their way!”
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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.
