gravities

Noun

gravity (countable and uncountable, plural gravities)

1. (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.
   • Page. Yonder is a moſt reuerend Gentleman; vvho (be-like) hauing receiued vvrong by ſome perſon, is at moſt odds vvith his ovvne grauity and patience, that euer you ſavv. / [Robert] Shal[low]. I haue liued foure-ſcore yeeres, and vpvvard: I neuer heard a man of his place, grauity, and learning, ſo...c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

   Synonyms:

   graveness, soberness, sobriety, weightiness

   Antonyms:

   flippancy, levity, unseriousness

2. (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.
3. (obsolete, uncountable) Authority, influence, weight; also, used as a title for a person with authority or influence.
   • [T]ho' Guicciardin [Francesco Guicciardini] miſtakes in thoſe Points, vve may ſafely venture to depend on all the reſt of the Circumſtances as true Hiſtory: VVhy elſe ſhould they be mentioned by a Hiſtoriographer of ſuch Gravity?1728, J[oseph] Morgan, “Heyradîn Basha, or Barba-rossa II. Second Turkish Sovereign, and First Vice-roy of Algiers, for the Grand Signor”, in A Complete History of Algiers. […], London: […] J....
4. (uncountable) The lowness in pitch of a note, a sound, etc.
5. (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

   Synonyms:

   gravitation

6. (countable, dated) 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)”).

   Synonyms:

   g-force

See all 9 meanings of gravity