Word.ws English Dictionary

poetry in motion

Syllables: po·et·ry in mot·ionUK/ˈpəʊɪtɹi ɪn ˈməʊʃən/US/ˈpoʊətɹi ən ˈmoʊʃən/

poetry in motion noun: fluid, graceful movement.

Noun

poetry in motion (uncountable)

  1. (idiomatic) Fluid, graceful movement.
    • If we must have male figures in the most conspicuous parts of ballets, they should be young men of light and agreeable figures. [...] But for the true realization of poetry in motion, the eye of the artist and true amateur requires the beautiful proportions of the female figure.1847, T[erence] M[cMahon] Hughes, chapter IX, in An Overland Journey to Lisbon at the Close of 1846; with a Picture of the Actual State of Spain and Portugal. … In Two Volumes, volume II, London...
    • From the front of the hood to the tips of the tail lights [of the car], the lines, were poetry in motion.1948 July, Devon Francis, “The Inside Story of the New Ford”, in Perry Githens, editor, Popular Science Monthly, volume 153, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Popular Science Publishing Company, →ISSN...
  2. (idiomatic) A person or thing that moves in a particularly fluid, graceful way.
    • Poetry in motion, walkin' by my side / Her lovely locomotion keeps my eyes open wide / Poetry in motion, see her gentle sway / A wave out on the ocean could never move that way1960, Mike Anthony, Paul Kaufman, “Poetry in Motion”, performed by Johnny Tillotson
    • It's poetry in motion / And now she's making love to me / The spheres are in commotion1982, Thomas Dolby, “She Blinded Me With Science”, in The Golden Age Of Wireless

Origin of poetry in motion

The term appears in 19th-century works in a literal sense.

Words that rhyme with poetry in motion

Questions about poetry in motion

What does poetry in motion mean?
Poetry in motion means fluid, graceful movement.
What part of speech is poetry in motion?
Poetry in motion is a noun.
How do you pronounce poetry in motion?
Poetry in motion is pronounced /ˈpəʊɪtɹi ɪn ˈməʊʃən/ (UK).

Words near poetry in motion in the dictionary

  1. Poetomachia
  2. poetress
  3. poetresses
  4. poetries
  5. poetry
  6. poetry in motion
  7. poetry reading
  8. poetry readings
  9. poetry slam
  10. poetry slams
  11. poetryless

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: poetry in motion (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-poetry in motion.ogg.

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