movement

a change of position that does not entail a change of location

• “the reflex motion of his eyebrows revealed his surprise”
• “movement is a sign of life”
• “an impatient move of his hand”
• “gastrointestinal motility”

a natural event that involves a change in the position or location of something

the act of changing location from one place to another

• “police controlled the motion of the crowd”
• “the movement of people from the farms to the cities”
• “his move put him directly in my path”

a group of people with a common ideology who try together to achieve certain general goals

• “he was a charter member of the movement”
• “politicians have to respect a mass movement”
• “he led the national liberation front”

a major self-contained part of a symphony or sonata

• “the second movement is slow and melodic”

a series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end

• “he supported populist campaigns”
• “they worked in the cause of world peace”
• “the team was ready for a drive toward the pennant”
• “the movement to end slavery”
• “contributed to the war effort”

an optical illusion of motion produced by viewing a rapid succession of still pictures of a moving object

• “the cinema relies on apparent motion”
• “the succession of flashing lights gave an illusion of movement”

a euphemism for defecation

• “he had a bowel movement”

a general tendency to change (as of opinion)

• “not openly liberal but that is the trend of the book”
• “a broad movement of the electorate to the right”

the driving and regulating parts of a mechanism (as of a watch or clock)

• “it was an expensive watch with a diamond movement”

the act of changing the location of something

• “the movement of cargo onto the vessel”