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From:word@m-w.com
To:mw-wod@listserv.webster.m-w.com
Subject:gravitate: M-W's Word of the Day
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Date:Tue, 23 Oct 2001 07:00:01 -0700 (PDT)

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The Word of the Day for October 24 is:

gravitate \GRAV-uh-tayt\ (verb)
1 : to move under the influence of gravitation
*2 a : to move toward something b : to be drawn or
attracted especially by natural inclination

Example sentence:
The best athletes naturally gravitate toward the schools
with the most athletic scholarships.

Did you know?
English has several weighty words descended from the Latin
"gravitas," meaning "weight." The first to arrive on the scene
was "gravity," which appeared in the early 16th century
(originally meaning "dignity or sobriety of bearing," it quickly
came to mean "weight" as well). Next came "gravitation" (used to
describe the force of gravity) and "gravitate" -- both mid-17th
century arrivals. "Gravitate" once meant "to apply weight or
pressure," but that use is now obsolete. In the late 17th
century, it was recorded in the sense "to move under the effect
of gravitation." It then acquired a more general sense of "to
move toward something" (as toward a specific location), and
finally a metaphorical third sense of "to be attracted" (as
toward a person or a vocation).

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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