Word.ws English Dictionary

moonwalk

/ˈmuːnwɔːk/US/ˈmunwɔk/

moonwalk noun: an exploration of the Moon's surface on foot by an astronaut.

moonwalk: an exploration of the Moon's surface on foot by an astronaut
Image: Asanagi, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

moonwalk (plural moonwalks)

  1. An exploration of the Moon's surface on foot by an astronaut.
  2. (broadly) Activity on the Moon, outside any moonbase, exposed to space, by an astronaut
    Synonyms:
    LEVA
  3. A dance move in which the dancer slides backwards though the feet move as if walking forwards; the backslide.
  4. A dance style in which the dancer appears to be moving in a low gravity environment.
    • Though the idea of placing wacky made-up characters in a real-life context was carried over from Da Ali G Show—wherein Buzz Aldrin was once asked if he was upset that Michael Jackson got all the credit for inventing the moonwalk—Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat felt like something new, an attempt to...2012 May 15, Scott Tobias, “Film: Reviews: The Dictator”, in The Onion AV Club

Verb

moonwalk (third-person singular simple present moonwalks, present participle moonwalking, simple past and past participle moonwalked)

  1. (intransitive) To walk on the surface of the Moon.
  2. (intransitive) To walk in leaps, like on the Moon or on other low gravity surfaces.
  3. (intransitive) To perform the moonwalk.
  4. (intransitive) To walk in a manner that is similar to the moonwalk dance style; to move while sliding backwards as though the feet move as if one was walking forwards.
    • Alicent’s crew intercede and try to grab the prince for themselves, Aemond restraining his fleeing brother while Criston crosses swords with Cargyll 1. That’s when Cargyll 2 moonwalks away, realizing that he wants no part of this royal shitshow.2022 October 16, Jenna Scherer, “An enticing House Of The Dragon crowns Westeros' new ruler”, in AV Club

Proper noun capitalized: Moonwalk

Moonwalk

  1. A barangay of Parañaque, Metro Manila, Philippines.

moonwalk meaning in Malayalam, Arabic, Persian and Thai

moonwalk in Malayalam

dance style
മൂൺവാക്ക് mūṇvākkŭ

moonwalk in Arabic

dance style
مِشْيَة الْقَمَرِ

moonwalk in Persian

dance style
مونواک mun-vâk

moonwalk in Thai

dance style
มูนวอล์ก muun-wɔ̂ɔk
More languagesFewer languages
moonwalk in Vietnamese
moonwalk

Synonyms of moonwalk

Forms of moonwalk

Noun
pluralmoonwalks
Verb
third-person singular presentmoonwalks
present participlemoonwalking
past participlemoonwalked
pastmoonwalked

Origin of moonwalk

From Moon + walk. * (backslide): Coined by Michael Jackson in 1983, when popularizing the backslide and renaming it.

Words formed from moonwalk

Questions about moonwalk

What does moonwalk mean?
Moonwalk means an exploration of the Moon's surface on foot by an astronaut.
What is moonwalk in Malayalam?
Moonwalk in Malayalam is മൂൺവാക്ക് (mūṇvākkŭ). See Moonwalk meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is moonwalk?
Moonwalk can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce moonwalk?
Moonwalk is pronounced /ˈmuːnwɔːk/ (UK).
What is the plural of moonwalk?
The plural of moonwalk is moonwalks.

Words near moonwalk in the dictionary

  1. moonstruck
  2. moontime
  3. Moontype
  4. moonup
  5. moonwake
  6. moonwalk
  7. moonwalked
  8. moonwalker
  9. moonwalkers
  10. moonwalking
  11. moonwalks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: moonwalk (page history and authors); Moonwalk (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-moonwalk.wav.

Cite this entry: “moonwalk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/moonwalk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.