cavorting

[ kuh-vawr-ting ]

adjective

1. romping or capering playfully about; frolicking:

   Here you can see Arctic life up close—snowy owls, white foxes, cavorting polar bear cubs, and the amazing sled dogs.

2. behaving in a high-spirited, playful way:

   During a game of musical statues, the shy boy stood motionless in the middle of the cavorting group.

3. partying or behaving in an unrestrained way, often with the implication of sexual activity.

noun

1. the act of frolicking playfully about, behaving in a high-spirited or unrestrained way, or partying, often with the implication of sexual activity:

   Recent reports of drunken cavorting with a 19-year-old model have damaged the mayor’s squeaky-clean image.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cavorting¹

First recorded in 1835–45; cavort ( def ) + -ing ²( def ) for the adjective senses; cavort ( def ) + -ing ¹( def ) for the noun sense

Example Sentences

The perennially under-construction compound, with its “oleander … and old milk cartons … R. Crumb comics, empty tea and coffee mugs, and ashtrays,” was often inhabited, Moon writes, by naked strangers “cavorting or making candles.”

From Los Angeles Times

And after a week of juggling personal, professional and financial responsibilities, sometimes cavorting with singing pirates and dancing dolls simply takes the edge off.

From Los Angeles Times

As summer sends more of us out to these cavorting grounds to stand above the ocean and eat and play and fish and don’t-you-dare-smoke, it’s a good moment to know a bit more about them.

From Los Angeles Times

His black-and-white picture of Big Tex, the cowboy effigy that hovers over the State Fair of Texas in Dallas, shows a motley assortment of Texans sitting and cavorting beneath the absurd figure.

From New York Times

But he didn’t imagine himself swashbuckling with pirates or cavorting with ghosts.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• boisterous
• jaunty
• joyful
• joyous
• lighthearted
• merry
• spirited
• sprightly