levitous

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English

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Etymology

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From levity +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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levitous (comparative more levitous, superlative most levitous)

  1. (rare) Exhibiting levity.
    • 1886, Sam Porter Jones, Quit Your Meanness, page 89:
      Crack these jokes one at a time, and you'll find every one of 'em has the red-hot sting of a hornet tangled up in it, and you'll get stung. If you think it's levity it's because you have a levitous mind.
    • 1907, Harry Leon Wilson, Ewing's Lady, page 61:
      "She's saddle stock, fur looks, that lady is, but she ain't serious. No, sir! When her eyes is on me I know as well's I want to she's snickerin' inside; makes no difference if her face does look like it was starched. You'll find, when all's said an' done, that she's plumb levitous, an' levitous folks is triflin'."
    • 1981, Gilbert Sorrentino, Crystal Vision, →ISBN, page 60:
      In effects, this centeristic intelligent creature is not amused, if I may be for a moment levitous. By all means be levitous, Curtin says. Levitism is the soul of discourse.
    • 2002, Annette Rathje, Marjatta Nielsen, Bodil Bundgaard Rasmussen, Pots for the Living, Pots for the Dead, →ISBN, page 37:
      As in the case of Paris on the Tyrrhenian amphorae, the levitous treatment of the goddess shows that an august, universally known mythological event could be treated with humour.

Anagrams

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