gravitational

Etymology

It is formed from English gravitation + -al.^[2][3][4] Gravitation is from New Latin gravitātiō, a noun of action from gravitō (“to gravitate”),^[2][5][4] which was formed from Latin gravitās (“heaviness, weight”),^[2][3][6] from gravis (“heavy”),^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *gwere- (“heavy”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of, relating to or caused by gravitation: 1816 according to Etymonline;^[3] the OED's first quotation is from B. Powell's Essays of 1855.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective followed the noun gravitation, used in physics from the 1640s for the force that gives weight to objects, and also figuratively for a tendency towards a centre of attraction.^[3][2] The OED defines the adjective as relating to gravitation or employing its law, the attraction of every particle of matter for every other.^[2] The Shorter Oxford records the set phrase gravitational constant, the constant relating the attraction between two bodies to their masses and distance.^[4] Chambers also gives a physics sense: of the weakest kind of interaction between particles.^[8]

Timeline

• 1644 – gravitation, figuratively, a natural tendency towards something.^[2]
• 1646 – gravitation, the attraction of one body for another.^[2]
• 1816 – gravitational (Etymonline).^[3]
• 1855 – first OED quotation, in B. Powell's Essays.^[2][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or caused by gravitation or gravity: The probe used the planet's gravitational pull to gain speed.^[9][10][2]
2. (physics) Of the weakest kind of interaction between elementary particles.^[8]

Word family

• antigravitational
• nongravitational
• gravitational collapse
• gravitational constant
• gravitational field
• gravitational interaction
• gravitational lens
• gravitational mass

Related words

• gravitate
• grave
• aggravate
• gravity

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
9. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins