Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

1. lĕvĭtas, ātis, f. [1. levis], lightness, as to weight.

  1. I. Lit. (rare): plumarum, Lucr. 3, 387; id. 4, 745: armorum, Caes. B. G. 5, 34: nulli fruticum levitas major, Plin. 13, 22, 42, § 123.
    1. * B. Transf., poet., movableness, mobility: Termine, post illud levitas tibi libera non est: Qua positus fueris in statione, mane, Ov. F. 2, 673.
  2. II. Trop.
    1. A. Light-mindedness, changeableness, fickleness, inconstancy, levity (freq. and class.): quid est inconstantiā, mobilitate, levitate turpius? Cic. Phil. 7, 3, 9: temere assentientium, id. Ac. 2, 38, 120: in populari ratione, id. Brut. 27, 103: mobilitas et levitas animi, Caes. B. G. 2, 1: ut adversas res, sic secundas immoderate ferre, levitatis est, lightness of mind, Cic. Off. 1, 26, 90: amatoriis levitatibus dediti, frivolities, id. Fin. 1, 18, 62: manet in rebus temere congestis levitas, Quint. 10, 3, 17: contemnamus igitur omnis ineptias—quod enim lenius huic levitati nomen inponam, Cic. Tusc. 1, 40, 95.
    2. B. In partic., of speech, shallowness, superficialness (rare): opinionis, Cic. N. D. 2, 17, 45.

2. lēvĭtas (laev-), ātis, f. [2. lēvis], smoothness.

  1. I. Lit. (class.): speculorum, Cic. Univ. 14; id. de Or. 3, 25, 99; id. Univ. 6; Plin. 2, 3, 3, § 7: intestinorum, slipperiness, lubricity, Cels. 4, 16; 2, 8.
  2. II. Trop., of speech, smoothness, fluency, facility: Demosthenes nihil levitate Aeschini et splendore verborum cedit, Cic. Or. 31, 110: verborum, Quint. 10, 1, 52: effeminata, id. 8, 3, 6.