Gravity

How to spell gravity

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce gravity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does gravity mean?

1. nounThe natural force that pulls objects with mass toward one another, giving them weight on a planet.
2. nounThe quality of being serious, solemn, or weighty in importance.

Gravity in a sentence

• The ball rolled downhill because gravity pulled it toward the ground.

• The judge spoke with great gravity as she delivered the sentence.

• Astronauts float in orbit because they are in constant free fall, not because gravity has vanished.

• The manager failed to grasp the gravity of the safety breach.

Where does gravity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Gravity comes from the Latin word gravitas, which meant heaviness, weight, or seriousness, formed on the adjective gravis, literally meaning heavy. English borrowed it through French in the 1500s, where it first carried the sense of dignity, solemnity, or moral seriousness, as in the bearing of a grave and weighty person. Only in the 1600s did scientists, most famously Isaac Newton, fix the word to the physical force that pulls objects toward one another and gives them weight, drawing directly on the original idea of heaviness. The same gravis root also gave us the adjective grave (meaning serious) and the word grief, which once meant a heavy burden on the heart. Knowing that the core is grav, meaning heavy, helps fix the single v and the unstressed second syllable that often blurs into a faint schwa.

How the word is built

• grav- (from Latin gravis: heavy)
• -ity (noun-forming suffix denoting a quality or state)