cavort

verb

ca·​vort kə-ˈvȯrt How to pronounce cavort (audio)
cavorted; cavorting; cavorts
Synonyms of cavort

intransitive verb

1
: to leap or dance about in a lively manner
Otters cavorted in the stream.
2
: to engage in extravagant behavior
The governor has been criticized for cavorting with celebrities.

Synonyms of cavort

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Examples of cavort in a Sentence

Otters cavorted in the stream. children cavorting on the first sunny day of spring
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Euphoric players cavorting in disbelief, long-suffering fans crumpling to their knees in tears, commentators’ voices cracking at the drama of it all. — Conor O'Neill, New York Times, 27 July 2026 Actors depicting a who’s who of artists, like Picasso and Warhol, cavort around the stage. — Daniella Walsh, Oc Register, 25 July 2026 While memi may sound cute as a faux-sector name, the memory chip companies are having a real impact across the public equities market, linking parts of the market that don’t typically cavort together. — Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 22 July 2026 McGinley photographed models cavorting naked (always naked) through sand dunes in the Mojave Desert and pine forests in Vermont, in a frigid ice cave in upstate New York and perched above a rushing waterfall in Tennessee. — Chris Wiley, New Yorker, 4 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for cavort

Word History

Etymology

earlier also cauvaut, cavault, covault, of obscure origin

Note: All early attestations of the word are North American, the first known (as cauvauted) in a letter written by the North Carolina politician John Steele in April, 1794. Various etymologies have been suggested: that the word is altered from curvet entry 1; that it is comprised of the unstressed expressive prefix ca- (as in caboodle) and vault entry 3; that it has some relation with French chahuter "to dance the chahut (a boisterous, somewhat indecent dance), to make an uproar" (see Leo Spitzer, "Cavort," Journal of English and Germanic Philology, vol. 48 (1949), pp. 132-37). Apparently the same word is cavaulting "coition" in John Camden Hotten's A Dictionary of Modern, Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words (London, 1859). In the second edition of Hotten's dictionary (London, 1860) the word has the etymological note "Lingua Franca, cavolta," though there appears to be no evidence for such a word in Lingua Franca.

First Known Use

1794, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of cavort was in 1794

Rhymes for cavort

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Browse Nearby Words

cavo-relievo
cavort
Cavour
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Cite this Entry

“Cavort.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cavort. Accessed 5 Aug. 2026.

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Kids Definition

cavort

verb
ca·​vort kə-ˈvȯ(ə)rt How to pronounce cavort (audio)
: to leap or dance about in a lively manner

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Nglish: Translation of cavort for Spanish Speakers

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