levitation
Americannoun
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the act or phenomenon of levitating.
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the raising or rising of a body in air by supernatural means.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of levitation
Explanation
When a magician makes a hat float mysteriously in the air, that's levitation. You may see levitation that appears entirely real at a magic show, with silver balls or scarves appearing to linger in midair. In the illusion of levitation, a magician raises an object or person into the air, and a psychic or medium's levitation might consist of a table rising slowly into the air. There are also scientifically valid examples of levitation, from the simple occurrence of a feather being blown upward by a breeze to magnetic levitation, when a powerful magnet exerts a force that's strong enough to raise a metal object into the air.
Vocabulary lists containing levitation
UFO-cabulary
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Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics
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Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
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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.
The thrusters were mounted on opposite sides of a CubeSat positioned on a custom magnetic levitation test platform known as the MagLev.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 10, 2026
Some of the most exciting and promising clean tech — like magnetic levitation trains and other low-cost, high-speed transportation — could finally be viable for mass development with superconductor use.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2023
Anyone who has seen “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” knows that Emma Watson is a master of levitation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2023
I found the embellishments that the directors devised — among them classic magic tricks with playing cards and levitation — leaven the play’s more plodding contrivances.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 26, 2023
The system worked with the same magnetic levitation technology used in Germany and Japan to propel bullet trains with magnets instead of wheels.
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
