Meanings
plural locomotions
- uncountableusuallybiologySelf-powered motion by which a whole organism changes its location through walking, running, jumping, crawling, swimming, brachiating or flying.
The assessment also looks at reflexes, stationary (body control), locomotion (movement), grasping and visual-motor integration (eyes and hands coordinated).
2017 June 9, Susan Scutti, “Study links mosquito spray to delayed motor skills in babies”, in CNN, archived from the original on 06 Oct 20221 more example
So it is that one of the characteristics that the sperm whale shares with all cetaceans is that it swims by flexing its tail flukes dorso-ventrally, a less efficient way of swimming than that of its distant piscine ancestors, but a mode of locomotion that derives directly from the galloping of its more recent terrestrial ones.
2011 September 22, Richard Shelton, “Sheep, pig, whale”, in Times Literary Supplement - countableusuallyoften preceded by definite articleA dance, originally popular in the 1960s, in which the arms are used to mimic the motion of the connecting rods of a steam locomotive.
Mr. Motian's own tunes, folk-simple locomotions of straight melody, fast or slow, with acres of room for interpretation, have accounted for some of the mistier sets.
2005 February 7, Ben Ratliff, “New CD's”, in The New York Times
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*m(y)ewh₁-“to move, drive”
- Latinmovēre“move; change, exchange, go in or out, quit”
- Latinlocō
- Frenchlocomotion
- Englishlocomotion
From French locomotion, from Latin locō (literally “from a place”) (ablative of locus (“place”)) + mōtiōnem (“motion, a moving”) (nominative mōtio), from Latin movēre (“move; change, exchange, go in or out, quit”), from Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh₁- (“to move, drive”).
More words from French, Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian придвижване
- придвижване (pridvižvane)ability to move
Catalan locomoció
- locomocióability to move
Dutch voortbeweging
- voortbewegingability to move
Finnish liikkumiskyky
- liikkumiskykyability to move
French locomotion
- locomotionability to move
German Fortbewegungsfähigkeit, Lokomotion
- Fortbewegungsfähigkeitability to move
- Lokomotionability to move
- Fortbewegungability to move
Greek μετακίνηση
- μετακίνηση (metakínisi)ability to move
Irish féinghluaiseacht
- féinghluaiseachtability to move
Italian locomozione
- locomozioneability to move
Polish lokomocja, poruszanie się
- lokomocjaability to move
- poruszanie sięability to move
Portuguese locomoção
- locomoçãoability to move
Romanian locomoție
- locomoțieability to move
Russian ход
- ход (xod)ability to move
Spanish locomoción
- locomociónability to move
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with locomotion
Cite this entry
locomotion. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/locomotion
“locomotion.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/locomotion. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “locomotion,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/locomotion.
Source: locomotion on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.