Standard Lemma guide

locomotion

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ləʊ.kəˈməʊ.ʃən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, US: /ˌloʊ.kəˈmoʊ.ʃən/
  • Australian: /ləʉ.kəˈməʉ.ʃən/
  • rhymes with -əʊʃən
  • CMU ARPABET: L OW2 K AH0 M OW1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The ability to move from place to place, or the act of doing so.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Self-powered motion by which a whole organism changes its location through walking, running, jumping, crawling, swimming, brachiating or flying.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A dance, originally popular in the 1960s, in which the arms are used to mimic the motion of the connecting rods of a steam locomotive.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, usually

Qualifier: often preceded by definite article

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

self-propelled movement

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: travel

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: motion, movement, move

Narrower terms: brachiation, walk, walking, step, gait, run, running, jog, trot, lope, crawl, crawling, creep, creeping, lap, circle, circuit, dance step, stroke

5

noun

Meaning 5

the power or ability to move

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: motive power, motivity

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mobility

History

Etymology

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”).

Across languages

Translations

21 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: придвижване (pridvižvane) — ability to move
  • Catalan: locomoció — ability to move
  • Dutch: voortbeweging — ability to move
  • Finnish: liikkumiskyky — ability to move
  • French: locomotion — ability to move
  • Galician: locomoción — ability to move
  • Georgian: გადაადგილება (gadaadgileba) — ability to move
  • German: Fortbewegungsfähigkeit — ability to move
  • German: Lokomotion — ability to move
  • German: Fortbewegung — ability to move
  • Ido: lokomoco — ability to move
  • Irish: féinghluaiseacht — ability to move
  • Italian: locomozione — ability to move
  • Polish: lokomocja — ability to move
  • Polish: poruszanie się — ability to move
  • Portuguese: locomoção — ability to move
  • Romanian: locomoție — ability to move
  • Russian: ход (xod) — ability to move
  • Serbo-Croatian: локомоција — ability to move
  • Serbo-Croatian: lokomocija — ability to move
  • Spanish: locomoción — ability to move