mobility

plural mobilities

1. countableuncountableThe ability to move; capacity for movement.First known use 15th c.

   I find the enduring existence of high heels both a frustrating mystery and a testament to the triumph of women’s neuroses over their mobility.

   2015 June 15, Hadley Freeman, The Guardian

   1 more example

   In the late 19th and early 20th century, the festive season was also a period of great mobility before, during and after Christmas Day. But the railways kept working.

   2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway...”, in RAIL, number 972, page 32

   Synonyms: mobileness

2. countableliteraryuncountableA tendency to sudden change; mutability, changeableness.First known use 16th c.
3. countableuncountablegovernmentThe ability of a military unit to move or be transported to a new position.First known use 18th c.
4. countableuncountablenatural sciencesThe degree to which particles of a liquid or gas are in movement.First known use 19th c.
5. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe ability of people to move between different social levels or professional occupations.First known use 19th c.

   The difficulty of rising up the economic ladder is reflected in the decline in mobility in the United States. […] The frustration over the lack of mobility is particularly acute for those without college degrees.

   2020 July 28, Thomas B. Edsall, “Trump Is Trying to Bend Reality to His Will”, in New York Times

1. UKhumorousobsoleteslangThe mob; the common people or rabble.

   She singled you out with her eye as commander-in-chief of the mobility.

   John Dryden, Don Sebastian, iv. 1

   1 more example

   Thus, while Morris contemptuously characterized committees of correspondence, popular assemblies, and public debate as the actions of the "mobility" (the mob), John Adams announced that the destruction of a stamp office by a mob "was thought an honorable and glorious act" of the people.

   quoted in 1999, Kimberly K. Smith, The Dominion of Voice (page 41)