levitate

What it means

1. transitiveTo cause to rise in the air and float, as if in defiance of external forces such as gravity.

   The magician levitated the woman.

2. intransitiveTo be suspended in the air, as if in defiance of external forces like gravity.

   The guru claimed that he could levitate.

In a sentence

The magician levitated the woman.

Where it comes from

1. New Latinlevitātus
2. Englishlevitate

First attested in 1673; borrowed from New Latin levitātus, perfect passive participle of levitō (“to levitate; to have one's motion directed upward, as opposed to the downward motion induced by gravity”) (first attested c. 1670), modeled on gravitō (“to gravitate”) (← Latin gravis (“heavy”)), from levis (“light”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).