motile
UK/ˈməʊtaɪl/
motile adjective: in organisms: having the power to move spontaneously.
Adjective
motile (comparative more motile, superlative most motile)
- In organisms: having the power to move spontaneously.
- 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...1914 Shelford, Victor E.: The American Naturalist: Comparison of the Responses of Sessile and Motile Plants and Animals
- 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.1993 May 6, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man in Deptford, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, →OL
- Antonyms:
- sessile
- In organs or organelles: capable of producing motion.
- 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...1857 Philip Henry Gosse: On the Presence of Motile Organs , and the Power of Locomotion, in Foraminifera ... .
- 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...2001Susan K Dutcher: Motile organelles: The importance of specific tubulin isoforms: doi.org/10.1016/S0960-9822(01)00250-0
- 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.
- 2007 H E König et al: Veterinary Anatomy of Domestic Mammals
Visceral motility is responsible for transporting the contents of the different organs. Thus it controls the amount of contents found in any organ at any one time. Through contraction and dilatation mechanisms, the food bolus passes...
- 2007 H E König et al: Veterinary Anatomy of Domestic Mammals
- Of or relating to those mental images that arise from the sensations of bodily movement and position.
Noun
motile (plural motiles)
- A person whose prevailing mental imagery takes the form of inner feelings of action, such as incipient pronunciation of words, muscular innervations, etc.
motile meaning in Tamil and Kannada
motile in Tamil
- நகரக்கூடிய திறன், நகரக்கூடிய, இயக்கமுள்ள, அசையும், அசைவுறும் பண்பு
motile in Kannada
- ಚಲಿಸಬಲ್ಲ, ಚಲನಶೀಲ, ಸರಿಯಬಲ್ಲ, ಸರಿಯುವ
Examples of motile in a sentence
- His sperm is likely to be extremely motile.2010 January 21, Bob Harris, “The Proof in the Pudding” (1:27), in Bones, season 5, episode 12, spoken by Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan...
- 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.2001Susan K Dutcher: Motile organelles: The importance of specific tubulin isoforms: doi.org/10.1016/S0960-9822(01)00250-0
Synonyms of motile
Antonyms
Forms of motile
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more motile |
| superlative | most motile |
| Noun | |
| plural | motiles |
Origin of motile
From Latin mōtus, perfect passive participle of moveō (“to move”, whence English move), + -ile.
Words formed from motile
Questions about motile
- What does motile mean?
- Motile means in organisms: having the power to move spontaneously.
- What is motile in Tamil?
- Motile in Tamil is நகரக்கூடிய திறன், நகரக்கூடிய, இயக்கமுள்ள. See Motile meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use motile in a sentence?
- His sperm is likely to be extremely motile.
- What part of speech is motile?
- Motile can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce motile?
- Motile is pronounced /ˈməʊtaɪl/ (UK).
Words near motile in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: motile (page history and authors); motile (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); motile (Kannada Wiktionary) (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)-Wodencafe-motile.wav.
Cite this entry: “motile.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/motile. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.