What does gravitate mean?
Word: Gravitate
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Gravitate means to move slowly towards a person, place or thing that attracts you.
How do you spell gravitate?
Syllables: grav - i - tate
Tricky part: The vowel after the v is the one that slips. It is an i, as in gravity, though quick speech blurs it and students write gravatate.
Watch out for: gravatate, gravetate, gravitait
Memory tip: Let gravity pull you to the right letter: that i after the v never changes.
Gravitate in a sentence
Example 1: Shy children often gravitate to the quietest corner of the playground.
Example 2: After lunch, the whole family tends to gravitate to Grandma's room for stories.
Example 3: Small traders gravitate to busy railway stations, where customers are never short.
Fun Fact
Its Latin source is gravis, meaning heavy, so the word still carries the idea of weight pulling a thing downwards.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
gravvitate
a) r
b) v
c) a
d) t
Show answer
b) v. Nothing is doubled in this word, so one of the two v's has to go.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters to find the word that fits the sentence:
The new pupils soon iatrteagv towards the friendliest table in the canteen.
a) gravitate
b) navigate
c) irrigate
d) vegetate
Show answer
a) gravitate. A g, an r, a v and two t's all have to fit, and that rules out navigate, irrigate and vegetate.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word gravitate as used in the sentence:
Most visitors to the book fair gravitate towards the comics stall as soon as they arrive.
a) are sent
b) are forced
c) are drawn
d) are paid
Show answer
c) are drawn. Nobody makes the visitors go; the comics pull them in.
Word Makeup
Only one of these words takes the suffix ion to make a noun. Choose it.
ion
a) drift
b) glide
c) stroll
d) gravitate
Show answer
d) gravitate. Gravitation is the noun; drift, glide and stroll have no form ending in ion.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. If young readers gravitate towards graphic novels, it suggests that they ____.
a) must read them for a test
b) choose them without being told
c) have been given no other book
d) dislike looking at pictures
Show answer
b) choose them without being told
2. Which sentence uses gravitate correctly?
a) Talented singers gravitate to cities with large music schools.
b) Please gravitate your full name on the top of the form.
c) The teacher gravitated the notebooks on Monday morning.
d) Our school bus will gravitate at nine sharp tomorrow.
Show answer
a) Talented singers gravitate to cities with large music schools.
