gravity

== English == === Etymology === Borrowed from French gravité (“seriousness, solemnity; severity; (physics) gravity”), or from its etymon Latin gravitās (“heaviness, weight; seriousness; severity”) + English -ity (suffix forming nouns, especially abstract nouns). Gravitās is derived from gravis (“heavy; grave, serious”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷreh₂- (“heavy”)) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating states of being). The English word was first used figuratively, and gained the senses relating to physical qualities in the 17th century. Doublet of gravitas. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɡɹævɪti/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɡɹævəti/, /-ɾi/ Rhymes: -ævɪti Hyphenation: grav‧i‧ty === Noun === gravity (countable and uncountable, plural gravities) Senses relating to seriousness. (uncountable) Of an activity such as a ceremony, a person's conduct, etc.: the quality of being deeply serious and solemn, especially in a dignified manner; seriousness, solemnity; (countable, archaic or obsolete) a serious or solemn thing, such as a matter, a comment, etc. [from early 16th c.] Synonyms: graveness, soberness, sobriety, weightiness Antonyms: flippancy, levity, unseriousness (uncountable) Of an activity, situation, words, etc.: the quality of having important or serious consequences; importance, seriousness. I hope you appreciate the gravity of the situation. (uncountable, obsolete) Authority, influence, weight; also, used as a title for a person with authority or influence. Senses relating to physical qualities. [from 17th c.] (uncountable, chiefly music) The lowness in pitch of a note, a sound, etc. (physics) (uncountable) Synonym of gravitation (“the fundamental force of attraction which exists between all matter in the universe that tends to draw bodies towards each other, due to matter causing the curvature of spacetime”); also, a physical law attempting to account for the phenomena of this force. Aristotelian gravity    Newtonian gravity (dated) (countable) Synonym of g-force (“the acceleration of a body relative to the freefall acceleration due to any local gravitational field, expressed in multiples of g0 (the mean acceleration due to gravity (sense 2.2.1) at the Earth's surface)”). (uncountable) Dated except in centre of gravity: specific gravity or relative density (“a dimensionless measure which is the ratio of the mass of a substance to that of some reference substance (chiefly an equal volume of water at 4°C)”); also, heaviness, weight. Synonym: weightfulness (uncountable, obsolete) The tendency to have weight and thus move downwards, formerly believed to be an inherent quality of some objects. Antonym: levity (uncountable, obsolete, rare) The quality of being unable or unwilling to move quickly; heaviness, sluggishness. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === gravity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia Gravitation in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)