buoyant
/ˈbɔɪənt
/adjective
1Able or tending to keep afloat or rise to the top of a liquid or gas.The most buoyant body parts rise first, leaving the head and limbs to drag behind the chest and abdomen....
- As H2O builds up, density and viscosity decrease to a stage where the magma may again be sufficiently buoyant and mobile to rise further.
- As they collect, the raisin becomes increasingly buoyant until it finally rises to the surface of the soda.
Synonyms
able to float, light, floating
rare floatable
1.1(Of a liquid or gas) able to keep something afloat: buoyant water...
- Since the demise of the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg, helium was in big demand as the buoyant gas for airships.
- The buoyant gases escaped through the silk fabric's weave.
- You can't see their chests heave, but they must, at least for a minute, after settling from a race over the rocks to soft, buoyant water.
2Cheerful and optimistic: the conference ended with the party in a buoyant mood...
- And judging by the buoyant mood of the cheerful crowds swirling all over the city centre, and day after day of packed events, they were succeeding.
- Further cause for optimism: the buoyant mood of attendees at a home-builder convention Brozak recently attended.
- Paul was vital, and sparkling, and buoyant, and cheerful, hopeful, courageous.
Synonyms
cheerful, cheery, happy, light-hearted, carefree, bright, glad, merry, joyful, bubbly, bouncy, effervescent, blithe, sunny, breezy, jolly, jovial, animated, lively, sprightly, jaunty, ebullient, high-spirited, vivacious, vital, sparkling, sparky, zestful, perky;
optimistic, confident, hopeful, sanguine, bullish, positive
informal peppy, zippy, zingy, upbeat
dated gay
3(Of an economy, business, or market) involving or engaged in much successful trade or activity: car sales were buoyant...
- The aim is to make the process as smooth as possible and help increase the succession rate for buoyant businesses.
- The central bank warned earlier this year that a sudden end to the country's property boom posed one of the most serious risks to the country's buoyant economy and jobs market.
- The market is very buoyant; all this activity appears to suggest that it is a good time to sell and a good time to buy.
Synonyms
booming, strong, vigorous, burgeoning, thriving, growing, developing, progressing, improving, expanding, mushrooming, snowballing, ballooning
informal going strong
Derivatives
buoyantly
/ adverb ...- It is no accident that libertarians tend to be buoyantly optimistic while conservatives are suffused with pessimism.
- But the citizens of this terminal world are buoyantly good-humoured.
- The molten fraction can then separate and rise buoyantly up into the crust.
Origin
Late 16th century: from French bouyant or Spanish boyante, present participle of boyar 'to float' (see buoy).