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.
Superconductors are materials that can conduct electricity without electrical resistance -- making them the ideal base material for electronic components in MRI machines, magnetic levitation trains and even particle accelerators.
From Science Daily • Apr. 4, 2024
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
The levitation video is also not definitive, because non-superconducting materials including graphite can also partially float in the same way.
From New York Times • Aug. 3, 2023
“What in the wingardium leviosa is that dress,” one person wrote, referencing the levitation spell Watson’s Hermione uses to make a feather fly in the first “Harry Potter” film.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 2023
Pirates and Small World were converted to magnetic levitation, and they opened up Grand Canyon Land in the dry moat around Tom Sawyer’s Island.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
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.
