Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Motion   /mˈoʊʃən/   Listen
noun
Motion  n.  
1.
The act, process, or state of changing place or position; movement; the passing of a body from one place or position to another, whether voluntary or involuntary; opposed to rest. "Speaking or mute, all comeliness and grace attends thee, and each word, each motion, forms."
2.
Power of, or capacity for, motion. "Devoid of sense and motion."
3.
Direction of movement; course; tendency; as, the motion of the planets is from west to east. "In our proper motion we ascend."
4.
Change in the relative position of the parts of anything; action of a machine with respect to the relative movement of its parts. "This is the great wheel to which the clock owes its motion."
5.
Movement of the mind, desires, or passions; mental act, or impulse to any action; internal activity. "Let a good man obey every good motion rising in his heart, knowing that every such motion proceeds from God."
6.
A proposal or suggestion looking to action or progress; esp., a formal proposal made in a deliberative assembly; as, a motion to adjourn. "Yes, I agree, and thank you for your motion."
7.
(Law) An application made to a court or judge orally in open court. Its object is to obtain an order or rule directing some act to be done in favor of the applicant.
8.
(Mus.) Change of pitch in successive sounds, whether in the same part or in groups of parts. "The independent motions of different parts sounding together constitute counterpoint." Note: Conjunct motion is that by single degrees of the scale. Contrary motion is that when parts move in opposite directions. Disjunct motion is motion by skips. Oblique motion is that when one part is stationary while another moves. Similar or direct motion is that when parts move in the same direction.
9.
A puppet show or puppet. (Obs.) "What motion's this? the model of Nineveh?" Note: Motion, in mechanics, may be simple or compound. Simple motions are: (a) straight translation, which, if of indefinite duration, must be reciprocating. (b) Simple rotation, which may be either continuous or reciprocating, and when reciprocating is called oscillating. (c) Helical, which, if of indefinite duration, must be reciprocating. Compound motion consists of combinations of any of the simple motions.
Center of motion, Harmonic motion, etc. See under Center, Harmonic, etc.
Motion block (Steam Engine), a crosshead.
Perpetual motion (Mech.), an incessant motion conceived to be attainable by a machine supplying its own motive forces independently of any action from without. According to the law of conservation of energy, such perpetual motion is impossible, and no device has yet been built that is capable of perpetual motion.
Synonyms: See Movement.



verb
Motion  v. t.  
1.
To direct or invite by a motion, as of the hand or head; as, to motion one to a seat.
2.
To propose; to move. (Obs.) "I want friends to motion such a matter."



Motion  v. i.  (past & past part. motioned; pres. part. motioning)  
1.
To make a significant movement or gesture, as with the hand; as, to motion to one to take a seat.
2.
To make proposal; to offer plans. (Obs.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Motion" Quotes from Famous Books



... themselves Allowable and Convenient, are oftentimes turned into sore Temptations by the Devil. He press'd our Lord unto the making of Bread; Why, that very thing was afterwards done by our Lord, in the Miracles of the Loaves; and yet it is now a motion of the Devil, Pray, make thy self a Little Bread. The Devil will frequently put men by, from the doing of a seasonable Duty; but how? Truly by putting us upon another Duty, which may be at that juncture ...
— The Wonders of the Invisible World • Cotton Mather

... who had swords and pistols, and the depredators were twelve Highlanders, completely armed after the manner of their country.—Having delivered this doleful annunciation, he assumed a posture of silent dejection, shaking his head slowly with the motion of a pendulum when it is ceasing to vibrate, and then remained stationary, his body stooping at a more acute angle than usual, and the latter part of his person ...
— Waverley • Sir Walter Scott

... difference between morning and evening; and in such case we continued till the dawn of the next day. And when it was again nightfall, I came to myself and saw Ali bin Bakkar and the women and men of his household weeping over him, for he was stretched out without sense or motion. Some of them came to me and thoroughly arousing me said, 'Tell us what hath befallen our son and say how came he in this plight?' Replied I, 'O folk, hearken to me!'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 3 • Richard F. Burton

... otherwise. I have always demeaned myself well and truly towards the king—and if it can be proved that either in writing to the pope or any other, I have either stirred or procured anything against his Grace, or have been the means to any person to make any motion which might be prejudicial to his Grace or to his Realm, I am content to suffer for it. I have done England little good, and I should be sorry to do it any harm. But if I should agree to your motions and persuasions, I should slander myself, and confess to have been the ...
— The Reign of Henry the Eighth, Volume 1 (of 3) • James Anthony Froude

... on; and there was no sound of horses or any thing to break the silence, except the faint murmur which now and then the trees will make in the quietest night, as if they were dreaming, and talked in their sleep; for the motion does not seem to pass beyond them, but to swell up and die again in the heart of them. This and the occasional cry of an owl was all that broke the silent flow of the undivided moments,—glacier-like flowing none can tell how. We seldom ...
— The Vicar's Daughter • George MacDonald


More quotes...



Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com