Volitant

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Describing entities that have the capacity to navigate the skies or flutter through the atmosphere
2. Referring to beings that exhibit the power of flight or can traverse through the air effortlessly
3. Having the ability to move or fly through the air with ease

Etymology: "Volitant" comes directly from Latin "volitans," the present participle of "volitare," a frequentative of "volare," meaning "to fly." The Latin verb carried the sense of flitting or fluttering about repeatedly, so the flight it describes is light, darting, and continual rather than a single sweeping journey. English borrowed the adjective from that participle, keeping the sense of effortless movement through the air. The word's core is the same "fly" root that gives English "volatile," which once described things that could evaporate or take wing easily. Both trace back to "volare," so a "volitant" creature and a volatile liquid share an ancestor even though their modern meanings have drifted far apart.

Synonyms: flying, soaring, gliding, hovering, flitting

Antonyms: grounded, stationary, immobile, settled, fixed