ˈlevəd.ē, -ətē, -i noun
( -es )
Etymology: Latin levitat-, levitas lightness in weight, frivolity, from levis light + -itat-, -itas -ity — more at light
1.
a. : excessive or unseemly frivolity : lack of fitting seriousness : trifling
light without levity and serious without solemnity, always within the limits of classically disciplined form — New Yorker
there was about him something that made levity seem out of place — O.S.J.Gogarty
b. : lack of steadiness : changeableness , fickleness , inconstancy
that emotional seriousness will not transform intellectual levity — W.C.Brownell
pitted its gravity and longevity against the levity and evanescence of the brisk fire — Charles Dickens
2.
a. : the quality or state of being light in weight
the qualities of warmth, levity , and least resistance to the air — William Paley
b. : a positive property of lightness opposed to gravity and formerly believed to be a characteristic of some physical objects
it will no longer be lightness in the sense of very little weight, but positive and active lightness; we call this levity — George Adams & Olive Whicher
substitutes for universal gravity a polarity of gravity and levity , the latter a nonmechanical … force apparent … in certain volcanic phenomena and the growth of plants — Times Literary Supplement