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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Gravitation \Grav"i*ta"tion\, noun [Cf. F. gravitation. See Gravity.]
1. The act of gravitating.
2. (Pysics) That species of attraction or force by which all bodies or particles of matter in the universe tend toward each other; called also {attraction of gravitation}, {universal gravitation}, and {universal gravity}. See {Attraction}, and {Weight.}
{Law of gravitation}, that law in accordance with which gravitation acts, namely, that every two bodies or portions of matter in the universe attract each other with a force proportional directly to the quantity of matter they contain, and inversely to the squares of their distances.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
gravitation
noun
1: (physics) the force of attraction between all masses in the universe; especially the attraction of the earth's mass for bodies near its surface; "the more remote the body the less the gravity"; "the gravitation between two bodies is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them"; "gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love"--Albert Einstein [syn: {gravity}, {gravitational attraction}, {gravitational force}]
2: movement downward resulting from gravitational attraction; "irrigation by gravitation rather than by pumps" [ant: {levitation}]
3: a figurative movement toward some attraction; "the gravitation of the middle class to the suburbs"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
63 Moby Thesaurus words for "gravitation": G, G suit, adduction, affinity, allurement, apogeotropism, attractance, attraction, attractiveness, attractivity, capillarity, capillary attraction, cascade, cataract, centripetal force, chute, collapse, comedown, crash, debacle, declension, declination, defluxion, descending, descension, descent, down, downbend, downcome, downcurve, downfall, downflow, downgrade, downpour, downrush, downtrend, downturn, downward trend, drag, draw, drop, dropping, fall, falling, geotropism, graviton, gravity, inclination, magnetism, mass, mutual attraction, plummeting, pounce, pull, pulling power, rapids, specific gravity, stoop, swoop, sympathy, traction, tug, waterfall
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
GRAVITATION, noun The tendency of all bodies to approach one another with a strength proportion to the quantity of matter they contain -- the quantity of matter they contain being ascertained by the strength of their tendency to approach one another. This is a lovely and edifying illustration of how science, having made A the proof of B, makes B the proof of A.
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