gravitate
English edit
Etymology edit
Back-formation from gravitation. Or borrowed from New Latin gravito, gravitatus.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
gravitate (third-person singular simple present gravitates, present participle gravitating, simple past and past participle gravitated)
- (intransitive, astrophysics) To move under the force of gravity.
- 1712, Sir Richard Blackmore, Creation; a philosophical poem in seven books, book II:
- Theſe, who have nature's ſteps with care purſued,
That matter is with active force endued,
That all its parts magnetic power exert,
And to each other gravitate, aſſert.
- (intransitive, figuratively) To tend or drift towards someone or something, as though being pulled by gravity.
- Children naturally gravitate to such a big, friendly man.
- The guests slowly gravitated to the kitchen.
- 1776, Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations:
- The natural price, therefore, is, as it were, the central price, to which the prices of all commodities are continually gravitating.
- 1898, Kate Douglas Wiggin, chapter 8, in Penelope’s Progress […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:
- As the presence of any considerable number of priests on an ocean steamer is supposed to bring rough weather, so the addition of a few hundred parsons to the population of Edinburgh is believed to induce rain,—or perhaps I should say, more rain.
- 1923, Elbert Hubbard, J.B. Runs Things:
- Responsibilities gravitate to the person who can shoulder them.
- 1940 May, “The Irish Railways Today”, in Railway Magazine, page 296:
- A considerable amount of new rolling stock has been built for the main line services during recent years, and the older stock has gravitated to the secondary and branch lines.
- 2012 March 30, Joe Levy, “Rockers at Sea”, in The New York Times[1]:
- I lingered with seven new friends from Chicago on a back balcony, where concert attendees waiting to be convinced traditionally congregate. The more we drank, the farther up front we gravitated. I finished the show a few feet from the stage.
Translations edit
to move under the force of gravity
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to tend or drift towards someone or something, as though being pulled by gravity
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
References edit
- “gravitate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “gravitate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Italian edit
Etymology 1 edit
Verb edit
gravitate
- inflection of gravitare:
Etymology 2 edit
Participle edit
gravitate f pl
Anagrams edit
Latin edit
Noun edit
gravitāte
Romanian edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from French gravité, Latin gravitas, gravitatem; equivalent to grav + -itate. Compare greutate, possibly an inherited doublet.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
gravitate f (uncountable)
Declension edit
declension of gravitate (singular only)
| singular | ||
|---|---|---|
| f gender | indefinite articulation | definite articulation |
| nominative/accusative | (o) gravitate | gravitatea |
| genitive/dative | (unei) gravități | gravității |
| vocative | gravitate, gravitateo | |
Related terms edit
Spanish edit
Verb edit
gravitate
- second-person singular voseo imperative of gravitar combined with te