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Glite Dictionary
🤖 Self-moving 👁️ Moving illusion
autokinetic

autokinetic

9.9
Making a still light or object look like it is moving, often in darkness
  • adjective
  • /ˌɔːtəʊkɪˈnɛtɪk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : autocinético
  • In fact, the light was stationary and only appeared to move via an illusion known as the autokinetic effect.

Examples

  • AT was curiously measured by the number of trials necessary for a subject to establish his or her individual norm in the autokinetic situation.

    Academic text (1995)

  • During the experiment, volunteers reported feeling dizzy due to the autokinetic illusion presented by the stationary point of light.

  • When looking at the stars in a dark sky, some people experience the autokinetic effect, believing that they are moving even though they are still.

  • The autokinetic phenomenon can trick your mind into thinking a stationary light bulb is swaying back and forth in a dimly lit room.

Surface Forms

autokinetic positive

Morphology

autokinetic = kinetic (semi-transparent) = auto + kinet + ic

The form still suggests 'self-moving', but this sense refers to a specialized illusion of motion rather than literal self-propelled movement.

Etymology

Autokinetic comes from the Greek parts auto- ('self') and kinetic ('movement'). So it is used for the strange effect where a fixed light seems to move on its own in the dark.