Definition of 'level'
Adjective
(
er)
The same height at all places; parallel to a flat ground.
-
* Milton
- the smooth and level pavement
At the same height as some reference; constructed as level with .
* {{quote-book|year=1963|author=(Margery Allingham)|title=(The China Governess)
|chapter=14
citation
|passage=Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a
level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.}}
-
Unvaried in frequency.
-
Calm.
-
In the same position or rank.
* Shakespeare
- Young boys and girls / Are level now with men.
* {{quote-news|year=2011|date=October 22|author=Sam Sheringham
|title=Aston Villa 1 - 2 West Brom|work=BBC Sport
citation
|passage=After a poor start to the season, Roy Hodgson's men are now unbeaten in four matches and 10th in the Premier League table,
level with Aston Villa on 11 points.}}
Straightforward; direct; clear.
* M. Arnold
- a very plain and level account
Well balanced; even; just; steady; impartial.
- a level''' head; a '''level understanding
* Shakespeare
- a level consideration
(phonetics) Of even tone; without rising or falling inflection.
-
Antonyms
* unbalanced
* uneven
* tilted
Derived terms
* level playing field
* dead level
Related terms
* square
Noun
(
en-noun)
A tool for finding whether a surface is , or for creating a horizontal or vertical line of reference.
-
A distance relative to a given reference elevation.
-
Degree or amount.
* |chapter=17
|title=
The Mirror and the Lamp
|passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the
level of a casual labourer.}}
* {{quote-magazine|date=2013-05-17|author=George Monbiot|authorlink=George Monbiot
|title=Money just makes the rich suffer|volume=188|issue=23|page=19|magazine=(
The Guardian Weekly)
citation
|passage=In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […] The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra–wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian
levels of inequality are almost fetishised.}}
-
(computer science) Distance from the root node of a tree structure.
(gaming) One of several discrete segments of a game generally increasing in difficulty. Often numbered. Often, each level occupies different physical space (levels don't require any direct physical relationship to each other, e.g. vertically stacked, horizontally chained, etc).
-
(gaming) A numeric value that quantifies a character's experience and power.
-
A floor of a multi-storey building.
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(British) an area of almost perfectly flat land.
Derived terms
* bonus level
* dead level
* on the level
* spirit level
* split level
* to the next level
See also
*
Verb
To adjust so as to make as flat or perpendicular to the ground as possible.
:
To destroy by reducing to ground level; to raze.
:
*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
*:He levels mountains and he raises plains.
(lb) To progress to the next level.
:
To aim or direct (a weapon, a stare, an accusation, etc).
:
*(John Stow) (c.1525–1605)
*:Bertram de Gordon, standing on the castle wall, levelled a quarrel out of a crossbow.
*
*:But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […], and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.
To make the score of a game equal.
*{{quote-news|year=2012|date=April 9|author=Mandeep Sanghera|work=BBC Sport
|title= Tottenham 1-2 Norwich
|passage=Holt was furious referee Michael Oliver refused to then award him a penalty after Ledley King appeared to pull his shirt and his anger was compounded when Spurs immediately levelled .}}
To levy.
*2007 , Mary Jacoby, EU investigators endorse charges against Intel , Wall Street Journal Europe, 17 January, p.32, col.5:
*:Ultimately, Ms. Kroes [European Union Antitrust Commissioner] could level a fine and order Intel to change its business practices.
(lb) To bring to a common level or plane, in respect of rank, condition, character, privilege, etc.
:
To adjust or adapt to a certain level.
:
*(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
*:For all his mind on honour fixed is, / To which he levels all his purposes.
Derived terms
* level out
* level up
* level with someone
