motionless

/ˈmoʊʃɪnlɪs/
/ˈmʌʊʃɪnlɪs/
IPA guide

If you're motionless, you're completely still, not moving a muscle. Your barber might instruct you to remain motionless while he trims the hair around your ears.

Anything that's motionless doesn't move — a statue is motionless, and your bike is motionless lying in the driveway until you climb on it and start pedaling. Photographs are motionless, while video records movement. Your new puppy might be a constantly wiggling, jumping ball of motion until she becomes exhausted and falls sound asleep, motionless. Motion, or movement, comes from a Latin root, motionem, "a movement" or "an emotion."

Definitions of motionless
  1. adjective
    not in physical motion
    synonyms: inactive, static, still
    nonmoving, unmoving
    not in motion
Cite this entry
Style:
MLA
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago

Copy citation
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘motionless'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
Word Family

Vocabulary lists containing motionless

view more about the vocabulary list
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 4

Check out this list of sampled words William Shakespeare is credited with coining or first putting into print. Here are links to our lists in the collection: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5, List 6, List 7, List 8

"The Woman in the Snow" and "Rosa Parks"

Edge: Level B, Volume 1, Unit 3, Cluster 3. Here are links to the other clusters within Unit 3: "The Sword in the Stone" and "Was There a Real King Arthur?", "A Job for Valentin" and "In the Heart of a Hero", "The Woman in the Snow" and "Rosa Parks"

English Language Development Texts, Unit 2

This list covers "Sobeknefru" and "The Other Side."

MORE VOCABULARY LISTS