Definition of: level

(lev′əl) adjective
1. Having a flat and even surface; without inequalities; strictly conforming to the surface of a body of still water; also, approximately flat.
2. Conforming to a horizontal plane; not sloping.
3. Being in the same line or plane with something else.
4. Equal to something or someone else in importance, rank, or degree.
5. Aimed or moving in a direct line; hence, straightforward; honest.
6. Well–balanced; having good judgment.
7. Even in tone, color, etc.
8. Denoting a surface everywhere at right angles to the line in which a force acts, so that motion upon it causes no gain or loss of energy.
—one's level best Colloq. One's very best.
—noun
1. A line or surface wholly at right angles to the vertical.
2. A horizontal line, surface, plane, or position; also, an approximately horizontal surface, as a plain.
3. The mean altitude of something: sea level.
4. Degree of moral, intellectual, or social elevation; rank; specifically, an equal rank: The men were on a level mentally.
5. The line in which anything is aimed.
6. A device for ascertaining, or for adjusting something to, a horizontal line or plane by noting the position of a bubble contained within a sealed tube of alcohol or other liquid: used by builders and surveyors, with or without a microscope.
7. Differences in altitude thus measured.
8. A section of a canal from one lock to another.
—on the level U.S. Colloq. Without equivocation; in a fair, honest manner.
—v. lev·eled or lev·elled, lev·el·ing or lev·el·ling v.t.
1. To make flat; give a flat or horizontal surface to: often with off.
2. To reduce to the ground; demolish; raze.
3. To bring or reduce to a common condition, state, etc.
4. To make horizontal, as with a level (def. 6).
5. To aim or direct, as a rifle, the eyes, etc.
6. To make even and uniform, as colors.
7. In surveying, to ascertain the vertical contours of (ground).
—v.i.
8. To aim a weapon directly at a mark or target.
9. To bring persons or things to a common state or condition.
—to level off Aeron. To fly a plane parallel with the ground, as before landing.
—adverb
1. In a right or level line; direct; straight.
2. In an even manner; steadily. [<OF livel, nivel <L libella, dim. of libra, balance]
—lev′el·ly adverb
—lev′el·ness noun Synonyms (adj.): even, flat, horizontal, plain, plane, smooth. We speak of a horizontal line, a flat morass, a level road, a plain country, a plane surface (especially in the scientific sense). That which is level may not be even, and that which is even may not be level; a level road may be very rough; a slope may be even. See FLAT, HORIZONTAL, SMOOTH. Antonyms: broken, hilly, inclined, irregular, rolling, rugged, slanting, sloping, uneven.