gravity definition | Dictionary.com

grav⋅i⋅ty

[grav-i-tee]

–noun, plural -ties.

1.	the force of attraction by which terrestrial bodies tend to fall toward the center of the earth.

2.	heaviness or weight.

3.	gravitation in general.

4.	acceleration of gravity.

5.	a unit of acceleration equal to the acceleration of gravity. Symbol: g

6.	serious or critical nature: He seemed to ignore the gravity of his illness.

7.	serious or dignified behavior; dignity; solemnity: to preserve one's gravity.

8.	lowness in pitch, as of sounds.

Origin:
1500–10; < L gravitāt- (s. of gravitās) heaviness, equiv. to grav(is) heavy, grave ² + -itāt- -ity

Synonyms:
6. seriousness, danger, emergency, import.

acceleration of gravity

–noun Physics.

the acceleration of a falling body in the earth's gravitational field, inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the body to the center of the earth, and varying somewhat with latitude: approximately 32 ft. (9.8 m) per second per second. Symbol: g

Also called gravity.

Origin:
1885–90

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To gravity

grav·i·ty (grāv'ĭ-tē)

Physics
1. The natural force of attraction exerted by a celestial body, such as Earth, upon objects at or near its surface, tending to draw them toward the center of the body.
2. The natural force of attraction between any two massive bodies, which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
3. Gravitation.
Grave consequence; seriousness or importance: They are still quite unaware of the gravity of their problems.
Solemnity or dignity of manner.

[French gravité, heaviness, from Old French, from Latin gravitās, from gravis, heavy; see g^werə-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Gravity

Grav"i*ty\, n.; pl. Gravities. [L. gravitas, fr. gravis heavy; cf. F. gravit['e]. See Grave, a., Grief.]

1. The state of having weight; beaviness; as, the gravity of lead.

2. Sobriety of character or demeanor. "Men of gravity and learning." --Shak.

3. Importance, significance, dignity, etc; hence, seriousness; enormity; as, the gravity of an offense.

They derive an importance from . . . the gravity of the place where they were uttered. --Burke.

4. (Physics) The tendency of a mass of matter toward a center of attraction; esp., the tendency of a body toward the center of the earth; terrestrial gravitation.

5. (Mus.) Lowness of tone; -- opposed to acuteness.

Center of gravity See under Center.

Gravity battery, See Battery, n., 4.

Specific gravity, the ratio of the weight of a body to the weight of an equal volume of some other body taken as the standard or unit. This standard is usually water for solids and liquids, and air for gases. Thus, 19, the specific gravity of gold, expresses the fact that, bulk for bulk, gold is nineteen times as heavy as water.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : gravity

Spanish: gravedad, seriedad,

German: der Ernst,

Japanese: 重大さ

More Translations »

gravity

Another term for gravitation, especially as it affects objects near the surface of the Earth.

gravity

1509, "weight, dignity, seriousness," from L. gravitatem (nom. gravitas) "weight, heaviness, pressure," from gravis "heavy" (see grave (adj.)). The scientific sense of "force that gives weight to objects" first recorded 1641. Gravitate is first recorded 1692.

Main Entry: grav·i·ty
Pronunciation: 'grav-&t-E
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -ties
1 : WEIGHT 1 —used chiefly in the phrase center of gravity
2 a : the gravitational attraction of themass of the earth, the moon, or a planet for bodies at or near its surface; broadly : GRAVITATION b : ACCELERATION OF GRAVITY c :

SPECIFIC GRAVITY

—gravity adjective

gravity (grāv'ĭ-tē) Pronunciation Key
The fundamental force of attraction that all objects with mass have for each other. Like the electromagnetic force, gravity has effectively infinite range and obeys the inverse-square law. At the atomic level, where masses are very small, the force of gravity is negligible, but for objects that have very large masses such as planets, stars, and galaxies, gravity is a predominant force, and it plays an important role in theories of the structure of the universe. Gravity is believed to be mediated by the graviton, although the graviton has yet to be isolated by experiment. Gravity is weaker than the strong force, the electromagnetic force, and the weak force. Also called gravitation. See more at acceleration , relativity.

Our Living Language : With his law of universal gravitation, Sir Isaac Newton described gravity as the mutual attraction between any two bodies in the universe. He developed an equation describing an instantaneous gravitational effect that any two objects, no matter how far apart or how small, exert on each other. These effects diminish as the distance between the objects gets larger and as the masses of the objects get smaller. His theory explained both the trajectory of a falling apple and the motion of the planets—hitherto completely unconnected phenomena—using the same equations. Albert Einstein developed the first revision of these ideas. Einstein needed to extend his theory of Special Relativity to be able to understand cases in which bodies were subject to forces and acceleration, as in the case of gravity. According to Special Relativity, however, the instantaneous gravitational effects in Newton's theory would not be possible, for to act instantaneously, gravity would have to travel at infinite velocities, faster than the speed of light, the upper limit of velocity in Special Relativity. To overcome these inconsistencies, Einstein developed the theory of General Relativity, which connected gravity, mass, and acceleration in a new manner. Imagine, he said, an astronaut standing in a stationary rocket on the Earth. Because of the Earth's gravity, his feet are pressed against the rocket's floor with a force equal to his weight. Now imagine him in the same rocket, this time accelerating in outer space, far from any significant gravity. The accelerating rocket pushing against his feet creates a force indistinguishable from that of a gravitational field. Developing this principle of equivalence, Einstein showed that mass itself forms curves in space and time and that the effects of gravity are related to the trajectories taken by objects—even objects without mass, such as light. Whether gravity can be united with the other fundamental forces understood in quantum mechanics remains unclear.

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