LOCOMOTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does locomotion mean? 

• LOCOMOTION (noun)
  The noun LOCOMOTION has 2 senses:

1. the power or ability to move

2. self-propelled movement

  Familiarity information: LOCOMOTION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LOCOMOTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The power or ability to move

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

locomotion; motive power; motivity

Hypernyms ("locomotion" is a kind of...):

mobility (the quality of moving freely)

Derivation:

locomote (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

locomotive (of or relating to locomotion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Self-propelled movement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

locomotion; travel

Hypernyms ("locomotion" is a kind of...):

motion; move; movement (the act of changing location from one place to another)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "locomotion"):

brachiation (swinging by the arms from branch to branch)

walk; walking (the act of traveling by foot)

step (the act of changing location by raising the foot and setting it down)

gait (a horse's manner of moving)

run; running (the act of running; traveling on foot at a fast pace)

jog; lope; trot (a slow pace of running)

crawl; crawling; creep; creeping (a slow mode of locomotion on hands and knees or dragging the body)

circle; circuit; lap (movement once around a course)

dance step; step (a sequence of foot movements that make up a particular dance)

stroke (any one of the repeated movements of the limbs and body used for locomotion in swimming or rowing)

Derivation:

locomote (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

locomotive (of or relating to locomotion)

 Context examples 

They developed a theory to predict precisely what neurons would control specific types of locomotion — the worm's ability to squirm and scoot around.

(Fundamental Rules for How The Brain Controls Movement, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

“Gut bacteria may play a similar role in mammalian locomotion, and even in movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease,” said Dr. Mazmanian.

(Gut bacteria may control movement, National Institutes of Health)

One of the two lower extremities in humans used for locomotion and support.

(Leg, NCI Thesaurus)

The structure found below the ankle joint required for locomotion.

(Foot, NCI Thesaurus)

Between halts and stumbles, jerks and lurches, locomotion had at times seemed impossible.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

This leads to a reduction of spontaneous locomotion and aggressiveness, suppression of conditioned response, antagonism of stereotyped behaviour and hyperactivity induced by amphetamines.

(Molindone Hydrochloride, NCI Thesaurus)

Any living organism that typically synthesizes its food from inorganic substances, possesses cellulose cell walls, responds slowly and often permanently to a stimulus, lacks specialized sense organs and nervous system, and has no powers of locomotion.

(Plant, NCI Thesaurus)