motile
/ˈməʊtaɪl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.33 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
In organisms: having the power to move spontaneously.
adj
In organs or organelles: capable of producing motion.
adj
In organs: having the power to move their contents, or to change their shape or tension by writhing or contracting as required by their particular physiological functions.
adj
Of or relating to those mental images that arise from the sensations of bodily movement and position.
noun
A person whose prevailing mental imagery takes the form of inner feelings of action, such as incipient pronunciation of words, muscular innervations, etc.
Example Sentences
- "1914 Shelford, Victor E.: The American Naturalist: Comparison of the Responses of Sessile and Motile Plants and Animals Sessile organisms are those which are sedentary in habit, whether attached or possessing slight powers of locomotion. Motile organisms are those that habitually move about. Vagile or creeping forms as well as swimming, walking, flying, burrowing types are included. Most sessile animals are capable of moving their parts, while only a few sessile plants possess this capacity, and these only to a slight degree. There is no sharp distinction between sessile (sedentary) and motile organisms. Every possible gradation exists between fixed non-motile types as trees on the one hand and the pelagic fishes on the other."
- "It seemed to him that, if there were a Holy Trinity as the churches taught, this must be unified through a manner of capillary action, Father merging into Son and both into Holy Ghost. So God is motile as the blood is."
- "And even if they use condoms, Wendell is young. His sperm is likely to be extremely motile."
- "2010 Steven M. Carr: Origin of Evolutionary Novelty, The Garstang Hypothesis Memorial University of Newfoundland Modern As (Subphylum Urochordata) typically have a motile tadpole larva that undergoes metamorphosis to a sessile adult."
- "1857 Philip Henry Gosse: On the Presence of Motile Organs , and the Power of Locomotion, in Foraminifera ... . These [Foraminifera] were always found, a few hours after the weed had been deposited in my vases, adhering to the glass, with the pseudopodia extended ... constantly roaming ; they crawled up and down the stems and branches of the Algae, and over the various objects in the tank, never remaining long in. one station ... it is by means of the adhesion and contraction of the pseudopodia, that the animal drags itself along...."
- "Flagella and cilia are structurally conserved motile organelles found on diverse cell types, ranging from single-celled protozoa and algae to multicellular tissues in vertebrates. They have diverse roles, for example, they can propel cells such as sperm through their environment or move fluid across a cell surface, as in ciliated epithelia such as the respiratory tract and oviduct."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *m(y)owh₁éyeti Proto-Italic *moweō Latin moveō Latin mōtus Proto-Indo-European *-elis Proto-Italic *-elis Latin -ilislbor. English -ile English motile From Latin mōtus, perfect passive participle of moveō (“to move”, whence English move), + -ile.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈməʊtaɪl/