Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having or marked by buoyancy: a buoyant balloon; buoyant spirits.
- adj. Lighthearted; gay: in a buoyant mood.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having the quality of rising or floating in a fluid; floating; relatively light; that will not sink.
- Bearing up, as a fluid; sustaining another body by reason of greater specific gravity.
- Figuratively, cheerful; hopeful; not easily depressed.
- Causing buoyancy of mind; cheering; invigorating.
Wiktionary
- adj. having buoyancy; able to float
- adj. lighthearted and lively
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having the quality of rising or floating in a fluid; tending to rise or float.
- adj. Bearing up, as a fluid; sustaining another body by being specifically heavier.
- adj. Light-hearted; vivacious; cheerful.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. characterized by liveliness and lightheartedness
- adj. tending to float on a liquid or rise in air or gas
Etymologies
- Spanish boyante, present participle of boyar, to refloat a boat, from boya, buoy, from Old French boue; see buoy. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Again, I don't want to use the term buoyant as I talked about that last quarter, but we certainly are encouraged.”
Automatic Data Processing CEO Discusses Q2 2011 Earnings Call Transcript - Seeking Alpha
“By using a more Nordic looking center table along with plenty of print all around on fabric, the home exudes a certain buoyant charm and beauty.”
“Five hundred and seventy years later Frankfurt-am-Main, on October 5, 2010, found publishers from across the globe "in buoyant mood," according to London's Guardian newspaper last week -- having banished 2009's "mood of austerity," and busy toasting Alfred Knopf's advance of $2.5 million to a second-time Indian novelist Kiran Desai.”
“QUIST-ARCTON: Nevertheless, expectations remain buoyant, as Ghana prepares to start pumping oil.”
“Being buoyant is fine, but it shouldn't mean school science courses veer toward Christian doctrine.”
“It is the temperament eternally boyish and buoyant, which is on the side of sweetness and light.”
“A few moments later he was looking into the depressed eyes of a youth he had only known as the buoyant, headstrong, north-bred son of Allan”
“His heart, naturally susceptible to kindly emotion, smote him as he remarked the moody listlessness of the young man's step, and recalled the buoyant lightness it was once wont habitually to wear.”
“Due to Riverdale's bohemian allure, the media fraternity is buoyant, which is where today's homeowner, Craig Goodwill, comes into play.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘buoyant’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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501
Classic
mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly and 401 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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The Request Line
This is the place to add words you'd like Charles Harrington Elster to pronounce for you!
swingeing, affiant, dahlia, hydrangea, re, clematis, Nabokov, casu marzu, schadenfreudgeon, nefarious, mewl, manteion and 170 more...
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#faveword
Words chosen as favorites for the Twitter hashtag #faveword.
autumnal, grotto, chiaroscuro, sfumato, homunculus, zing, zest, effervescent, bewitch, avuncular, susurrus, Styrofoam and 205 more...
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11
ballast, buoyant, clamber, detach, eerie, fathom, pique, probe, realize, rupture, sphere, submerge and 3 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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vocab 10
unscathed, ultimate, tedious, submerge, sphere, rupture, realize, probe, pique, fathom, eerie, detach and 3 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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Lesson 11 Vocabulary
Ballast, buoyant, detach, eerie, fathom, pique, probe, realize, rupture, sphere, submerge, tedious and 2 more...
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Ophelia
Words to describe John Everett Millais' Ophelia
biosphere, biology, community, habitat, biotic, vivacious, nature, natural, detail, ecology ecosystem, dense, elaborate and 33 more...
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Happy, happy, joy, joy.
Feel good words.
great pleasure, joyfulness, jubilation, triumph, exultation, rejoicing, happiness, gladness, exhilaration, exuberance, bliss, felicity and 95 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Naresh_Gre
The path meanders through the vineyards
meander, labyrinth, Sinuous, gyrate, caron, awry, credo, banter, juxtaposition, argot, inexorable, foibles and 223 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for buoyant.
Telofy OK, thanks for your opinions. :-) May 16, 2009
rolig I don't believe I've ever heard anything other than /ˈbɔɪənt/ (I grew up in the US). My only strong opinion is that one shouldn't pronounce this as spelled, with three syllables: /bu'ɔɪjənt/. May 15, 2009
bilby For me buoy is identical to boy - indeed, so is bhoy - and buoyant follows from that. I don't have a strong opinion, it's just how things are around here. May 15, 2009
Telofy I'm having a problem deciding which pronunciation I like better, /ˈbɔɪənt/ or /ˈbujənt/.
Does anyone have a strong opinion about that they'd like to share?
Thanks.
A link. May 15, 2009