buoyancy

/ˈbɔɪɪnsi/

/ˈbɔɪɪnsi/

Other forms: buoyancies

Buoyancy is a quality that makes things float in water. It's also a type of happiness: if you're full of buoyancy, your mood is light and happy.

This is a word with two main meanings that fit together well: Both kinds of buoyancy have to do with floating and staying up. The physical kind refers to objects that float instead of sinking in water, like a life raft or a buoy. The other kind of buoyancy is a happy mood, a feeling that nothing can get you down. So whenever you run into the word buoyancy, just think "staying afloat."

Definitions of buoyancy

1. noun

   the tendency to float in water or other liquid
   type of:

   inclination, tendency

   a characteristic likelihood of or natural disposition toward a certain condition or character or effect
2. noun

   the property of something weightless and insubstantial
   synonyms: airiness

   type of:

   lightness, weightlessness

   the property of being comparatively small in weight
3. noun

   cheerfulness that bubbles to the surface
   synonyms: perkiness

   type of:

   blitheness, cheerfulness

   a feeling of spontaneous good spirits
4. noun

   irrepressible liveliness and good spirit
   “I admired his buoyancy and persistent good humor”

   synonyms: effervescence, irrepressibility

   type of:

   life, liveliness, spirit, sprightliness

   animation and energy in action or expression