motion Definition
mo·tion (mō′s̸hən)
noun
- the act or process of moving; passage of a body from one place to another; movement
- the act of moving the body or any of its parts
- a meaningful movement of the hand, eyes, etc.; gesture
- Rare the ability to move
- an impulse; inclination of one's own motion
- a proposal; suggestion; esp. a proposal formally made in an assembly or meeting
- Law an application to a court for a ruling, order, etc.
- Mech. a combination of moving parts; mechanism
- Music melodic progression, as a change from one pitch to another in a voice part
Etymology: ME mocioun < L motio (gen. motionis), a moving < motus, pp. of movere, move
intransitive verb
to make a meaningful movement of the hand, head, etc.; gesture
transitive verb
to direct or command by a meaningful gesture
motion Related Forms
motion Idioms
go through the motions
to do something from habit or according to formalities, but without enthusiasm, personal involvement, etc.
in motion
moving; traveling or in operation
motion Synonyms
motion
n.
A movement
The state of moving
An act formally proposed
proposal, suggestion, consideration, proposition; see plan 2.
motion Law Definition
n
- In litigation, a formal request, usually in writing, to a court for specified relief, under applicable procedural rules.
- In a legislature or other deliberative body, a request for procedural relief made by a member to the chairman or the body at large, under Roberts Rules of Order or other applicable procedural rules.
motion Usage Examples
Converse of object
- jiggle: Multi-colored ribbons encourage exploration, and a pull on the Whoozit character activates an exciting jiggling motion.
- propose: Proposed motion for a second round of speeches: Motion fails almost unanimously.
- submit: Motions submitted by a Member Club shall be signed by at least two officers of the same club.
- oppose: However the government opposed the motion which failed to gain sufficient support.
Preposition: for
adjournment: Wednesday 14 December A debate on European affairs on a motion for the Adjournment of the House.
Adjective modifier
- slow: They're not just ' cheesy ' slow motion to music which drags on for ages.
- circular: Starting at the outside rim, squeeze thin lines of white chocolate in a circular motion across the top of the cake.
- planetary: The main purpose of Book I is to explain Keplers laws of planetary motion, so lets remind ourselves of these.
- perpetual: He accidentally leaves his car keys behind but one wonders whether a car would have been much use to this man of perpetual motion.
- procedural: MC: We must now vote on the procedural motion.
- rotary: The tool can be operated by both handles ( or by the top handle alone ), using a rotary motion.
Modifies a noun
- sickness: Motion sickness provides a unique setting for the study of nausea.
- sensor: A powerful motion sensor triggers brilliant color changes every time a pedestrian walks by.
- picture: I wanted a more abstracted motion picture image of humans.
- capture: We will show how motion capture is done using state of the art virtual reality equipment.
- detector: Motion detectors are the more recent model of " switch on & go " machines, which first appeared in the early 1980's.
- estimation: The search range of the motion estimation is set to ± 8 pixels for both layers.
Noun used with modifier
- early-day: Members who signed my early-day motion on testing for deafness in babies.
- dislocation: At higher temperatures ( 300 °C ) pile up around the indent is observed with deformation occurring predominantly by dislocation motion.
- bowel: Inorganic iron supplements can cause dark brown to black bowel motions.
Browse dictionary entries near motion
- ‹ motile
- ‹ motif
- ‹ mothy
- ‹ mothproof
- ‹ motherwort
- ‹ Motherwell, Robert
- ‹ Motherwell and Wishaw
- ‹ Motherwell
- ‹ Mothers Superior
- ‹ motherly

