What's the difference between heroism and levity?

Heroism


Definition:

  • (n.) The qualities characteristic of a hero, as courage, bravery, fortitude, unselfishness, etc.; the display of such qualities.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Koroma said he was “humbled by the dedication” of 35,000 Ebola response workers “whose heroism is without parallel in the history of our country”.
  • (2) But how about some first-hand heroism over a second-hand table?
  • (3) Donald Trump's loud mouth got him into trouble, and it will get him out | Jeb Lund Read more Despite Trump’s penchant for controversial comments – including disparaging the heroism of Arizona senator John McCain during the Vietnam war, which led to widespread condemnation within his party – Trump has maintained a substantial lead in national polls for the Republican presidential nomination.
  • (4) As the toxicology reports come in post-disaster, the facts of a broken tail mechanism and of Washington's indubitable resourcefulness and heroism (possibly coke-fuelled) during the disaster fade into the background as the full extent of his addictions becomes clear.
  • (5) In The Plague, the stricken protagonists are searching for some way of being human beyond heroism and sanctity.
  • (6) Part of the fascination here is not just the brittleness, or the basic novelty but the sense of hope in Iceland’s managed miracle, a saga of halls, heroism and meticulous small‑island obsession.
  • (7) "By making the hero a girl, he took all that macho stuff out of the equation and that gave him the freedom to examine heroism.
  • (8) Then, as Barnett puts it, there’s the culture of heroism in relief work: humanitarians like to save the day and would much rather do so on their own.
  • (9) There is a substantial section about the Holocaust .’’ Kaczyński, who engineered his party’s landslide parliamentary election victory last October, has devised a “politics of memory’’ policy that aims to highlight Polish heroism and sacrifice throughout history.
  • (10) Marie Colvin's tragic death in Syria this week has brought rightly glowing tributes to the heroism of one of the bravest journalists.
  • (11) They are an outlet for heroism, a reason for lucrative taxation and, with luck, a source of glory.
  • (12) Kobani was the Kurdish Stalingrad, and its defence became a byword for heroism.
  • (13) The town’s successful defence became a byword for heroism.
  • (14) The more astringent sensibility belongs, of course, to Dahl: one born of boarding-school bullying, extreme heroism in the second world war as a fighter ace and the death of a beloved child (to whom he dedicated The BFG).
  • (15) "But Novodvorskaya's heroism concealed the fact that she was a person with a European education and a talented publicist.
  • (16) In a nutshell: Persian heroism Israel – The Urburb Welcome to the 'urburbs' ... the Israel pavilion.
  • (17) It was, he said, "a day to remember all those who lost their lives" on both sides as well as to "salute the heroism of the task force" sent to correct a "profound wrong".
  • (18) It shows crowds of people cheering the heroism of these new pioneers.
  • (19) My dad just did what he was trained to do but, under fire, when it's observed, it's called heroism."
  • (20) Most remain deeply proud of the heroism shown by their colleagues.

Levity


Definition:

  • (n.) Lack of steadiness or constancy; disposition to change; fickleness; volatility.
  • (n.) The quality of weighing less than something else of equal bulk; relative lightness, especially as shown by rising through, or floating upon, a contiguous substance; buoyancy; -- opposed to gravity.
  • (n.) Lack of gravity and earnestness in deportment or character; trifling gayety; frivolity; sportiveness; vanity.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Penetration will only occur once you have established a sense of levity, safety and trust between the both of you, plus a high level of non-penetrative eroticism.
  • (2) He’s similar in that sense to his icon Dizzee, who was always happy to balance his weightier stuff with moments of levity.
  • (3) Niemeyer’s buildings are characterised by their levity, playfulness, and curves, which are all antithetical to brutalism.
  • (4) Any such levity, however, is leavened by the tacit acknowledgment that existence is futile, and we are all just bags of flesh and bones whiling away the days before death and putrefaction sets in.
  • (5) There was more levity in a panel for the unlikely hit political drama Borgen about the intricacies of Danish coalition government, which brought together actors Sidse Babett Knudsen and Pilou Asbaek - who played prime minister Birgitte Nyborg and her spin doctor Kasper Juul.
  • (6) In Ferguson last summer, there wasn’t much levity in the days after Mike Brown was killed, either.
  • (7) In this spirit, Formation compels its viewers to acknowledge the beautiful complexity of history, culture and customs, with levity and passion.
  • (8) Perhaps he was a children's entertainer whom Ivan the Terrible enlisted in a rare moment of levity.
  • (9) They wanted someone associated with April who could inject a little humour and levity, not in a farcical way but in a real way.
  • (10) With One Love, Grande rose to the occasion with heart, strength and moments of out-of-body levity that can only come from a big pop show.
  • (11) H ow paranoid were you before you made this movie and how paranoid are you now?” That question was perhaps the only moment of levity during a conversation with documentarian Alex Gibney after the credits rolled on Zero Days, a terrifying account of the cyberwar that is already raging on thumb drives and mainframes from Washington to Tel Aviv to Isfahan Province in Iran and anywhere else that can connect to the internet.
  • (12) Klopp clearly enjoyed himself on the touchline in the closing stages and he brought a degree of levity into his post-match press conference, even offering up a suggestion for the top of journalists’ pieces.
  • (13) In a rare moment of levity during Hunt's testimony, the culture secretary was asked about an evening reception and dinner with James Murdoch where he was said to have hidden behind a tree to avoid being seen by the Wall Street Journal's Iain Martin.
  • (14) This was significant and, at the time, outrageous – in 1969, it must have seemed that seriousness had won out for good, with levity confined to novelty singles and bubblegum.
  • (15) The archaic levity tells you much about the debate, which, apart from the sponsor's opening remarks and contribution from another women in the chamber – the film-maker Baroness (Beeban) Kidron – did not even come close to articulating the change that has occurred since Tim Berners-Lee delivered his paper on a distributed hypertext system to his boss at CERN in March 1989.
  • (16) "I didn't want to have sex," says Geimer with brittle levity.
  • (17) There are moments of levity: when Bill Lincoln is giving evidence about his alibi (buying fish at Billingsgate market on Good Friday), it transpires that he is known by friends as “Billy the Fish”; James Creighton, the mate he meets when he has his regular Turkish bath, and who gives evidence on his behalf, is known as “Jimmy Two Baths”.
  • (18) They have even invented an alter ego band named The Reflektors, in which they perform wearing giant papier-mache heads of themselves, to add to the levity, and perhaps also to relieve the weight of what it means to be one of the world's biggest bands.
  • (19) He has been chairing the weekly political debates since 1994, often injecting the proceedings with some much-needed levity, and has become synonymous with the programme, ignoring constant speculation about when he might retire, and who might replace him.
  • (20) I said I liked it for its conceptual cheekiness – there can be no politics without quixotic energy and levity.