Word.ws English Dictionary

level

Syllables: lev·el/ˈlɛvəl/

level adjective: the same height at all places; parallel to a flat ground.

Adjective

level (comparative leveler or leveller, superlative levelest or levellest)

  1. The same height at all places; parallel to a flat ground.
    • This table isn't quite level; see how this marble rolls off it?
    • the smooth and level pavement1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
    Synonyms:
    flush
  2. At the same height as some reference; constructed as level with.
    • We tried to hang the pictures so that the bottom of the frames were level with the dark line in the wallpaper.
    • Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the...1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
  3. Unvaried in frequency.
    • His pulse has been level for 12 hours.
  4. Unvaried in volume.
    • His voice has been unchanged. It has been level for 12 hours.
  5. Calm.
    • He kept a level head under stress.
    • He kept a level gaze.
  6. In the same position or rank.
    • Young boys and girls
      Are level now with men.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
    • After a poor start to the season, Roy Hodgson's men are now unbeaten in four matches and 10th in the Premier League table, level with Aston Villa on 11 points.2011 October 22, Sam Sheringham, “Aston Villa 1 - 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport
  7. Straightforward; direct; clear.
    • a very plain and level account1873, Matthew Arnold, Literature and Dogma
  8. Well balanced; even; just; steady; impartial.
    • a level head; a level understanding
    • a level considerationc. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
  9. Of even tone; without rising or falling inflection; monotonic.
    • Intonation or tone is either level, rising, or falling, marked respectively1891, Henry Sweet, A History of English Sounds from the Earliest Period
  10. Perpendicular to a gravitational force.
    • The earth's oceans remain level in relation to the pull of gravity.

Noun

level (countable and uncountable, plural levels)

  1. A tool for finding whether a surface is level, or for creating a horizontal or vertical line of reference.
    • Hand me the level so I can tell if this is correctly installed.
  2. A distance relative to a given reference elevation.
    • By the end of the day, we'd dug down to the level of the old basement floor.
  3. Degree or amount.
    • This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
    • In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […] The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra–wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19
  4. Achievement or qualification.
    • She achieved a high level of distinction.
    Synonyms:
    scale
  5. Distance from the root node of a tree structure.
  6. One of several discrete segments of a game, generally increasing in difficulty and representing different locations in the game world.
    • Many of the levels change over time, from day to night or from one location to another, and some undergo a total transformation.2007 December, Chris Slate, “Get Ready to Smash”, in Nintendo Power, volume 222, page 49
    • It took me weeks to get to level seven. Watch out for the next level; the bad guys there are really overpowered.
    Synonyms:
    stage, zone, world
  7. (roleplaying games) A numeric value given to a character (or other element of a game) that represents its relative power, challenge or eligibility to do things, used as a game mechanic to govern progression through a game.
    • My half-orc barbarian reached fifth level before he was squashed by a troll.
  8. A floor of a multi-storey building.
    • Take the elevator and get off at the promenade level.
  9. (UK) An area of almost perfectly flat land.
    • The troops grow mutinous—the revenue fails—
      There’s something rotten in us—for the level
      Of the State slopes, its very bases topple,
      The boldest turn their backs upon themselves!1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts
  10. (Singapore) A school grade or year.
  11. One of the specific values which may be taken by a categorical variable.
    • The most common level of the colour variable is red. The other levels are blue and green.
  12. (Internet) age (especially used by cosplayers and TikTok users

Verb

level (third-person singular simple present levels, present participle (US) leveling or (UK) levelling, simple past and past participle (US) leveled or (UK) levelled)

  1. (transitive) To adjust so as to make as flat or perpendicular to the ground as possible.
    • You can level the table by turning the pads that screw into the feet.
    • This pitfall, beginning in February and finishing in May, resulted in a drop of about 3 ft. in the platform level; during this period it was necessary to level the track three times weekly, and impose a service slack of 15 m.p.h. The subsidence appears now to have finished, and normal speed is once...1939 June, “Pertinent Paragraphs: Pitfalls”, in Railway Magazine, page 456
  2. (transitive) To destroy by reducing to ground level; to raze.
    • The hurricane leveled the forest.
    • He levels mountains and he raises plains.1700, [John] Dryden, “Sigismonda and Guiscardo, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  3. (intransitive, roleplaying games) To progress to the next level.
    • I levelled after defeating the dragon.
    Synonyms:
    level up
  4. (transitive) To aim or direct (a weapon, a stare, an accusation, etc).
    • He levelled an accusation of fraud at the directors. The hunter levels the gun before taking a shot.
    • Bertram de Gordon, standing on the castle wall, levelled a quarrel out of a crossbow.1592, John Stow, The Annales of England
  5. (transitive) To direct or impose (a penalty, fine, etc) at or upon (someone) [with on or against or at].
    • If the right of killing salmon belong exclusively to the King, and consequently to his donatories, why has not the Legislature secured the right by levelling penalties against such as should encroach upon it … ?1809, William Ross (Jr.), Abridgement of the laws of Scotland relating to hunting [etc], page 60
    • How can the Minister reconcile the first statement with the clause, when he is in fact levelling punishment at the woman and not at the errant father … ?1978, Parliamentary Debates of the New Zealand House of Representatives, page 4955
    Synonyms:
    levy
  6. (intransitive) To make the score of a game equal.
    • Holt was furious referee Michael Oliver refused to then award him a penalty after Ledley King appeared to pull his shirt and his anger was compounded when Spurs immediately levelled.2012 April 9, Mandeep Sanghera, “Tottenham 1-2 Norwich”, in BBC Sport
    Synonyms:
    equalize
  7. (figuratively, transitive) To bring to a common level or plane, in respect of rank, condition, character, privilege, etc.
    • to level all the ranks and conditions of men
  8. (transitive) To adjust or adapt to a certain level.
    • to level remarks to the capacity of children
    • For all his mind on honour fixed is, / To which he levels all his purposes.1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC
  9. (intransitive) To speak honestly and openly [with with ‘someone’] (see: level with).
    • Sean, I'll level with you. This could get ugly. Do you have a gun?2010, James William Jones, Triple Crossed
  10. To replace (an irregular form) with a more common form; to remove irregularities or complexities, such as within a paradigm; to regularize.

Proper noun capitalized: Level

Level (plural Levels)

  1. A surname from French.

level meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

level in Hindi

same height at all places
स्तर star
tool
समस्तर samastar
distance relative to a given reference elevation
स्तर star
degree or amount
स्तर star, सतह satah, तल tal

level in Tamil

same height at all places
சரிமட்டமான carimaṭṭamāṉa
to adjust so as to make level
சரிமட்டமாக்க carimaṭṭamākka
to destroy by reducing to ground level; to raze
தரைமட்டமாக்க taraimaṭṭamākka

level in Marathi

distance relative to a given reference elevation
स्तर star
degree or amount
पातळी pātḷī, स्तर star

level in Urdu

degree or amount
سَطْح sath
More languagesFewer languages
level in Bengali
সমান śoman, হমান homan
level in Telugu
భేధము లేక bhēdhamu lēka, చదునైన cadunaina, సమానము samānamu, సున్నితముగా sunnitamugā
level in Malayalam
നില nila, തലം talaṁ
level in Kannada
ಮಟ್ಟ, ಮಟ್ಟಕೋಲು, ರಸಮಟ್ಟ, ಮಟ್ಟಗೋಲು
level in Punjabi
ਪੱਧਰ paddhar, پَدَّھر paddhar
level in Gujarati
સ્તર star
level in Odia
ସ୍ତର, ସ୍ତରୀଯ଼, ସ୍ତରର
level in Nepali
स्तर, स्तरी
level in Arabic
مُسْتَوًى mustawan, مَرْحَلَة marḥala
level in Thai
ระดับ rá-dàp, ขั้น kân, ชั้น chán, ด่าน dàan
level in Vietnamese
mực, mức
level in Myanmar
အဆင့် a.hcang.

Examples of level in a sentence

  • The sound level is much too high; this hurts my ears.
  • We've reached a new level of success.
  • Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
  • There is no purpose in levelling fines because they would be merely paid from the £1.8 billion which the BBC collects.1995, The Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) of the [Great British] House of Lords:
  • Kroes [European Union Antitrust Commissioner] could level a fine and order Intel to change its business practices.2007, Mary Jacoby, EU investigators endorse charges against Intel, Wall Street Journal Europe, 17 January, page 32, column 5

All 40 example sentences with level

Synonyms of level

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of level

Forms of level

Adjective
comparativeleveler
comparativeleveller
superlativelevelest
superlativelevellest
Noun
plurallevels
Verb
third-person singular presentlevels
present participle USleveling
present participle UKlevelling
past participle USleveled
past USleveled
past participle UKlevelled
past UKlevelled
Proper noun
pluralLevels

Past tense of level: leveled or levelled

Plural of level: levels

Origin of level

From Middle English level, from Old French livel, liveau m, later nivel, niveau, from Latin libella f (“a balance, a level”), diminutive of libra f (“a balance, a level”); see libra, librate. Doublet of libella and niveau. The verb is from Middle English levelen, from the noun.

Borrowed from French Level.

Words formed from level

Phrases with level

92 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with level

Questions about level

What does level mean?
Level means the same height at all places; parallel to a flat ground.
What is level in Hindi?
Level in Hindi is स्तर (star), समस्तर (samastar), सतह (satah). See Level meaning in Hindi.
How do you use level in a sentence?
The sound level is much too high; this hurts my ears.
What part of speech is level?
Level can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce level?
Level is pronounced /ˈlɛvəl/.

Words near level in the dictionary

  1. leveeing
  2. levees
  3. leveful
  4. Leveille
  5. Leveilles
  6. level
  7. level best
  8. level bests
  9. level cap
  10. level caps
  11. level crossing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: level (page history and authors); Level (page history and authors); সমান (Bengali) (page history and authors); തലം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); level (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); સ્તર (Gujarati) (page history and authors); level (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); level (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-level.wav, en-us-level.ogg.

Cite this entry: “level.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/level. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.