noun · C2

Levity

LEV-uh-tee/ˈlevəti/

Levity is humour or lightness where seriousness is expected: a moment of levity, unseemly levity. Humour is everyday and wider; frivolity is more dismissive. Leverage is influence/gearing — a lookalike. Levitate is float. Do not accuse a precise, dry joke that actually helped a briefing of levity as if it were a crime.

Meaning

Humour or lack of seriousness, especially when seriousness is expected.

Examples

“A little levity helped the briefing; a joke in the condolence minute did not.”
“A little levity steadied the fire-drill briefing; a gag in the condolence minute did not.”
“Frivolity is emptier; levity is lightness in a serious setting. Mix-up: leverage (influence).”

Good to know

Ill-timed or risky lightness. Everyday: humour. More dismissive: frivolity. Mix-up: leverage. Not every joke in a hard meeting.

Near in meaning

humour

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