BUOYANCY

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does buoyancy mean? 

• BUOYANCY (noun)
  The noun BUOYANCY has 4 senses:

1. cheerfulness that bubbles to the surface

2. the property of something weightless and insubstantial

3. the tendency to float in water or other liquid

4. irrepressible liveliness and good spirit

  Familiarity information: BUOYANCY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BUOYANCY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cheerfulness that bubbles to the surface

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

buoyancy; perkiness

Hypernyms ("buoyancy" is a kind of...):

blitheness; cheerfulness (a feeling of spontaneous good spirits)

Derivation:

buoyant (characterized by liveliness and lightheartedness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The property of something weightless and insubstantial

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

airiness; buoyancy

Hypernyms ("buoyancy" is a kind of...):

lightness; weightlessness (the property of being comparatively small in weight)

Derivation:

buoyant (tending to float on a liquid or rise in air or gas)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The tendency to float in water or other liquid

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("buoyancy" is a kind of...):

inclination; tendency (a characteristic likelihood of or natural disposition toward a certain condition or character or effect)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Irrepressible liveliness and good spirit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

buoyancy; irrepressibility

Context example:

I admired his buoyancy and persistent good humor

Hypernyms ("buoyancy" is a kind of...):

life; liveliness; spirit; sprightliness (animation and energy in action or expression)

Derivation:

buoyant (characterized by liveliness and lightheartedness)

 Context examples 

The brightness variations may be due to buoyancy waves – what atmospheric scientists also call gravity waves – which are typically launched by the flow of air over mountain ranges.

(Pluto’s Haze Varies in Brightness, NASA)

A method of separating cells by either their differential rate of sedimentation in a centrifugal gradient or their differential buoyancy in a density gradient.

(Cell Separation by Density Gradient Centrifugation, NCI Thesaurus)

A method of separating macromolecules by either their differential rate of sedimentation in a centrifugal gradient or their differential buoyancy in a density gradient.

(Density Gradient Centrifugation, NCI Thesaurus)

They dispersed about the room, reminding me, by the lightness and buoyancy of their movements, of a flock of white plumy birds.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The liability of shipping another such sea was enormously increased by the water that weighed the boat down and robbed it of its buoyancy.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Quincey wrote me a line too, and from him I hear that Arthur is beginning to recover something of his old buoyancy; so as to them all my mind is at rest.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Neutral particles provide the buoyancy the gnarled knots of magnetic energy need to rise through the sun’s boiling plasma and reach the chromosphere.

(Scientists Uncover Origins of the Sun’s Swirling Spicules, NASA)

The buoyancy of the material, some of it molten, causes the crust to bulge upward.

(Hot News from the Antarctic Underground, NASA)

In the ruffled mane, the rider's breezy hair and erect attitude, there was a suggestion of suddenly arrested motion, of strength, courage, and youthful buoyancy that contrasted sharply with the supine grace of the 'Dolce far Niente' sketch.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I had heard of such things being made of paper and hollow rushes which quickly became saturated and lost all buoyancy.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)