gravitas

See also: gravitás

English

WOTD – 17 November 2007

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) Borrowed from Latin gravitās (“weight, heaviness”). Doublet of gravity.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹævɪtɑs/
• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹæv.ɪ.tɑːs/, /ˈɡɹæv.ɪ.tæs/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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Noun

gravitas (uncountable)

1. seriousness in bearing or manner; dignity
2. (figuratively) substance, weight
   • 2014 September 7, Natalie Angier, “The Moon comes around again [print version: Revisiting a moon that still has secrets to reveal: Supermoon revives interest in its violent origins and hidden face, International New York Times, 10 September 2014, p. 8]”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Unlike most moons of the solar system, ours has the heft, the gravitational gravitas, to pull itself into a sphere.

Usage notes

Frequently used in a jocular or stilted sense.

Related terms

• gravitate
• gravity

 

Translations

Translations

• Polish: powaga (pl) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• stravaig

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Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡraˈvitas/

Verb

gravitas

1. present of graviti

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French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: gravita, gravitât

Verb

gravitas

1. second-person singular past historic of graviter

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Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡraˈvitas/

Verb

(deprecated template usage) gravitas

1. present of gravitar

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Latin

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) From gravis (“heavy”) +‎ -tās.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈɡra.u̯i.taːs/, [ˈɡräu̯ɪt̪äːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈɡra.vi.tas/, [ˈɡräːvit̪äs]

Noun

gravitās f (genitive gravitātis); third declension

1. weight, heaviness
2. severity, harshness
3. importance, presence, influence
4. gravity
5. pregnancy

   Synonym: graviditās

6. (New Latin, physics) gravity

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	gravitās	gravitātēs
Genitive	gravitātis	gravitātum
Dative	gravitātī	gravitātibus
Accusative	gravitātem	gravitātēs
Ablative	gravitāte	gravitātibus
Vocative	gravitās	gravitātēs

Related terms

• graviter
• gravitō

 

Descendants

• Aromanian: griutati
• Catalan: gravetat
• → Dutch: graviteit
• → English: gravitas, gravity
• → French: gravité
• → Italian: gravità
• Old French: grieté
• → Portuguese: gravidade
• → Romanian: gravitate
• Romanian: greutate
• Spanish: gravedad

References

• “gravitas”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “gravitas”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• gravitas in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• gravitas in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • healthy climate: caelum salūbre, salubritas caeli (opp. grave, gravitas)
    

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Portuguese

Verb

gravitas

1. Template:pt-verb-form-of

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɾaˈbitas/ [ɡɾaˈβ̞i.t̪as]

Verb

gravitas

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) present indicative form of gravitar.