mobility

English

Etymology

From Middle French mobilité, and its source, Latin mōbilitās (“mobility”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mə(ʊ)ˈbɪlɪti/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /moʊˈbɪlɪti/

Noun

mobility (countable and uncountable, plural mobilities)

1. The ability to move; capacity for movement. [from 15th c.]

   Synonym: mobileness

   • 2015 June 15, Hadley Freeman, The Guardian:

     I find the enduring existence of high heels both a frustrating mystery and a testament to the triumph of women’s neuroses over their mobility.

   • 2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway...”, in RAIL, number 972, page 32:

     In the late 19th and early 20th century, the festive season was also a period of great mobility before, during and after Christmas Day. But the railways kept working.

2. (now chiefly literary) A tendency to sudden change; mutability, changeableness. [from 16th c.]
3. (military) The ability of a military unit to move or be transported to a new position. [from 18th c.]
4. (chiefly physics) The degree to which particles of a liquid or gas are in movement. [from 19th c.]
5. (chiefly sociology) People's ability to move between different social levels or professional occupations. [from 19th c.]
   • 2020 July 28, Thomas B. Edsall, “Trump Is Trying to Bend Reality to His Will”, in New York Times‎:

     The difficulty of rising up the economic ladder is reflected in the decline in mobility in the United States. […] The frustration over the lack of mobility is particularly acute for those without college degrees.

Antonyms

• immobility

Derived terms

• automobility
• economic mobility
• e-mobility
• mobility kill
• mobility scooter
• personal mobility device
• personal transportation mobility
• social mobility
• sustainable mobililty
• upward mobility
• urban mobility

 

Related terms

terms related to mobility (noun)

• mobile
• mobilization
• mobilize
• move

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *mew- (0 c, 2 e)

Translations

ability to move

Asturian: movilidá f Bulgarian: подвижност (bg) f (podvižnost) Catalan: mobilitat (ca) f Czech: pohyblivost f, mobilita f Finnish: liikkuvuus (fi) French: mobilité (fr) f Galician: mobilidade (gl) f Georgian: მოძრაობა (ka) (moʒraoba), მობილობა (mobiloba) German: Mobilität (de) f Greek: κινητικότητα (el) f (kinitikótita) Indonesian: mobilitas (id) Interlingua: mobilitate Irish: luaineacht f, lúth m Italian: mobilità (it) f Japanese: 可動 (ja) (kadō), 動きやすさ (ugokiyasusa) Latin: mōbilitās f Latvian: mobilitāte f, kustīgums m Macedonian: подвижност f (podvižnost) Polish: mobilność (pl) f, ruchomość (pl) f Portuguese: mobilidade (pt) f Russian: подви́жность (ru) f (podvížnostʹ), моби́льность (ru) f (mobílʹnostʹ) Slovak: mobilita, pohyblivosť Spanish: movilidad (es) f Swedish: rörlighet (sv) c Turkish: devingenlik (tr), hareketlilik (tr)

ability of a military unit to move or be transported to a new position

Bulgarian: мобилност f (mobilnost) Finnish: liikkuvuus (fi) Indonesian: mobilitas (id) Japanese: 機動 (ja) (kidō) Slovak: mobilita

ease of movement between social levels

Finnish: liikkuvuus (fi) German: Mobilität (de) f Indonesian: mobilitas (id) Japanese: 流動性 (ryūdōsei) Slovak: mobilita

See also

• congestion