GRAV comes from the Latin word meaning “heavy, weighty, serious.” Gravity is, of course, what makes things heavy, and without it there wouldn't be any life on earth, since nothing would stay on earth at all. This doesn't stop us from yelling in outrage when the familiar laws of gravity cause something to drop to the floor and break.
grave: (1) Requiring serious thought or concern. (2) Serious and formal in appearance or manner.
• We realized that the situation was grave and that the slightest incident could spark all-out war.
Gravity has a familiar physical meaning but also a nonphysical meaning— basically “seriousness.” Thus, something grave possesses gravity. You can refer to the gravity of a person's manner, though public figures today seem to have a lot less gravity than they used to have. Or you can talk about a grave situation, as in the example sentence. But even though Shakespeare makes a pun on grave when a dying character talks about being buried the next day (“Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man”), the word meaning “hole for burying a body” isn't actually related.
gravitas: Great or very dignified seriousness.
• The head of the committee never failed to carry herself with the gravitas she felt was appropriate to her office.
This word comes to us straight from Latin. Among the Romans, gravitas was thought to be essential to the character and functions of any adult (male) in authority. Even the head of a household or a low-level official would strive for this important quality. We use gravitas today to identify the same solemn dignity in men and women, but it seems to come easier in those who are over 60, slow-moving—and a bit overweight.
gravitate: To move or be drawn toward something, especially by natural tendency or as if by an invisible force.
• On hot evenings, the town's social life gravitated toward the lakefront, where you could stroll the long piers eating ice cream or dance at the old Casino.
To gravitate is to respond, almost unconsciously, to a force that works like gravity to draw things steadily to it as if by their own weight. Thus, young people gravitate toward a role model, moths gravitate to a flame, a conversation might gravitate toward politics, and everyone at a party often gravitates to the bar.
aggravate: (1) To make (an injury, problem, etc.) more serious or severe. (2) To annoy or bother.
• She went back to the soccer team before the knee was completely healed, which naturally aggravated the injury.
Since the grav- root means basically “weighty or serious,” the original meaning of aggravate was “to make more serious.” A bad relationship with your parents can be aggravated by marrying someone who nobody likes, for example, or a touchy trade relationship between two countries can be aggravated by their inability to agree on climate-change issues. Depression can be aggravated by insomnia—and insomnia can be aggravated by depression. But when most people use aggravate today, they employ its “annoy” sense, as in “What really aggravates my dad is having to listen to that TV all day long.”
LEV comes from the Latin adjective levis, meaning “light,” and the verb levare, meaning “to raise or lighten.” So a lever is a bar used to lift something, by means of leverage. And levitation is the magician's trick in which a body seems to rise into the air by itself.
alleviate: To lighten, lessen, or relieve, especially physical or mental suffering.
• Cold compresses alleviated the pain of the physical injury, but only time could alleviate the effect of the insult.
Physical pain or emotional anguish, or a water shortage or traffic congestion, can all be alleviated by providing the appropriate remedy. But some pain or anguish or shortage or congestion will remain: to alleviate is not to cure.
elevation: (1) The height of a place. (2) The act or result of lifting or raising someone or something.
• Her doctor is concerned about the elevation of her blood pressure since her last visit.
When you're hiking, you may be interested in knowing the highest elevation you'll be reaching. Psychologists use the term “mood elevation” to mean improvement in a patient's depression, and some leg ailments require elevation of the limb, usually so that it's higher than the heart for part of each day. Elevation can also mean “promotion”; thus, a vice president may be elevated to president, or a captain may be elevated to admiral.
cantilever: A long piece of wood, metal, etc., that sticks out from a wall to support something above it.
• The house's deck, supported by cantilevers, jutted out dramatically over the rocky slope, and looking over the edge made him dizzy.
Cantilevers hold up a surface or room without themselves being supported at their outer end. Many outdoor balconies are cantilevered, and theater balconies may be as well. A cantilevered bridge may have a huge span (as long as 1,800 feet) built out on either side of a single large foundation pier. Architects sometimes use cantilevered construction to produce dramatic effects; Frank Lloyd Wright's “Fallingwater” house, which extends out over a rocky river, is a famous example. But the Grand Canyon's “Skywalk” has become perhaps the best-known piece of cantilevered construction in America.
levity: Lack of appropriate seriousness.
• The Puritan elders tried to ban levity of all sorts from the community's meetings, but found it increasingly difficult to control the younger generation.
Levity originally was thought to be a physical force exactly like gravity but pulling in the opposite direction, like the helium in a balloon. As recently as the 19th century, scientists were still arguing about its existence. Today levity refers only to lightness in manner. To stern believers of some religious faiths, levity is often regarded as almost sinful. But the word, like its synonym frivolity, now has an old-fashioned ring to it and is usually used only half- seriously. |
