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motion

motion

92 2.0
A movement of the hand or body to signal someone
  • noun
  • /ˈmoʊʃən/
translation icon : gesto
  • He pointed in a sweeping motion to guide us towards the exit.
  • a hand motion
  • quick motion
  • body motions

What the fuck is your face motion in there?

Examples

  • You are going to use long sweeping motions and blend out the jawline.

  • And you just use very soft motions back and forth.

  • I made a finger motion.

  • Some were no more than a quick grabbing motion in the air.

    Academic text (2013)
  • Yes, swing the free leg forward and around with a wide scooping motion and prepare to jump.

  • All of these motions take on meaning only in the context in which they occur.

    Academic text (2013)
  • Sally pulled on her gloves with quick, practiced motions and started for the door.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Singing the song and using body motions can help students play phrase endings correctly.

    Academic text (1996)
  • She made a motion with her hands to indicate that she wanted silence.

  • The teacher used a clear motion to show us how to start the dance.

Synonyms

movement
vsmotion
696 1.5

A change of place when something moves

is specifically a change of body position used to send a message
signal
vsmotion
670 2.1

A gesture or sound that tells someone to act

refers to body movement serving to communicate information
move
vsmotion
167 1.0

A change of position of a body part or object

highlights communicative intent rather than mere position change
gesture
vsmotion
140 2.3

A movement of the body that shows a thought or feeling

is used mainly as a deliberate signal or message
sign
vsmotion
109 1.8

A movement made to show meaning or give an instruction

focuses on body movement alone rather than language systems

Antonyms

38 3.5

A time of complete quiet and no movement that feels calm

Idioms

poetry in motion
  • Literature
3 4.9

Very graceful, beautiful movement often seen in dance or sport

Start a series of actions that lead to later changes

motion of my ocean
  • Literature
9.9

A deep feeling you have when something moves you deeply

A joking phrase that says skill matters more than size

Compounds

A story that uses moving images and sound, like a movie

slow motion
  • Specialized
53 3.2

A way of showing action in film or video that happens more slowly than real life

Feeling dizzy and sick when you travel in cars, boats or planes

The act of going ahead toward a goal

law of motion
  • Specialized
3 3.9

A rule that shows how pushes and pulls change how things move, for example by starting or stopping

3 9.9

A machine that runs forever without any extra energy

An American group that gives the Oscars every year for work in movies

2 3.8

Smooth, graceful movement that looks continuous without sudden stops

perpetual motion
  • Specialized
2 9.1

Movement that keeps going forever without any extra energy

A camera that takes many pictures quickly to make a movie when played

1 3.5

Three basic rules that explain how objects move and push each other in physics

Brownian motion
  • Specialized
1 7.3

Tiny particles in a liquid or gas move randomly when molecules hit them

A long roll of plastic with many pictures that goes in a movie camera

first law of motion
  • Specialized
1 4.1

An object stays still or keeps moving at the same speed and direction unless a force acts on it

motion study
  • Specialized
1 5.3

A careful look at how a job is done to find faster, easier steps

harmonic motion
  • Specialized
1 6.3

A movement that goes back and forth around a middle point, like a pendulum

1 3.9

Every force causes an equal force in the opposite direction

relative motion
  • Specialized
1 6.1

Movement of one object measured from another or from a person watching

orbital motion
  • Specialized
1 5.3

Movement of one object around another in space, like a planet around a star

third law of motion
  • Specialized
1 4.2

Every push on an object causes an equal push back in the opposite direction

decelerated motion
  • Specialized
7.2

Movement that slows down over time

apparent motion
  • Specialized
7.2

A visual effect that makes still images look like they are moving, as in movies

axial motion
  • Specialized
6.9

Movement when something turns around its own middle like a spinning top

Movement where speed changes by different amounts over time

A person who likes watching movies and often goes to the cinema

5.0

Taking moving pictures with a camera to make films

A public show where moving pictures and sound tell a story, like a film at a cinema

A rule that describes how planets move around the Sun in oval paths

An object stays still or keeps moving in the same straight line unless a force acts on it

A rule that a force changes an object's motion more when the force is bigger or the object is lighter

rotary motion
  • Specialized
3.6

Movement in which something spins around a fixed line

Going forward toward a goal or place

periodic motion
  • Specialized
4.1

Movement that repeats at regular times, with each cycle taking the same amount of time

second law of motion
  • Specialized
4.7

A rule that says how a force makes an object move faster depending on its mass

time and motion study
  • Specialized
5.5

A study that measures how long each part of a job takes to find a faster way

time-and-motion study
  • Specialized
6.0

People watch how workers do a job to find the fastest, easiest way to do it

time-motion study
  • Specialized
6.2

A careful timing of movements to find faster ways to do a job

A situation that gets worse slowly in public while people cannot stop it

6.3

A repeating back and forth movement where the pull back gets stronger the farther it moves from center

Movement where speed decreases by the same amount every second

How Clear

wave
127 1.0
nod
131 1.0
motion
92 2.0

Surface Forms

motion singular
motions plural

Morphology

motion = move (transparent) = move + tion

A gesture is a kind of movement; the relation to 'move' plus the noun-forming '-tion' is straightforward for learners.

Etymology

Motion for a gesture also comes from Latin movere 'to move'; think of a small movement of the hand or head used to send a signal. So, a motion in this sense is a movement you make to show or tell someone something.