Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Capable of moving or being moved easily: Describes something that is not fixed in place and can be transported or relocated.
   • Characterized by ease of movement or change: Often used to describe people, populations, or societies that move frequently or can change social or economic status.
   • Relating to cellular phones: Pertaining to portable telephones (a common modern usage, often as part of the compound term "mobile phone").

2. Noun:

   • A decorative structure with balanced parts moved by air currents: A type of kinetic sculpture, often hung from the ceiling, whose parts move freely.
   • A city or geographical feature: A proper noun referring to a city in Alabama, USA (Mobile), or its associated bay and river.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • The library has a mobile cart for books. (The cart can be moved easily from room to room.)
  • Modern society is highly mobile. (People move and change jobs or locations frequently.)
  • She is always mobile, traveling for work. (She is capable of and does move from place to place readily.)

• Noun:

  • The baby was fascinated by the colorful mobile above the crib. (The hanging sculpture moved gently in the air.)
  • They took a cruise from the port of Mobile. (Referring to the city in Alabama.)

Advanced Usage

• "Upwardly mobile": Describing individuals or groups who are advancing in social or economic status.
  • The company attracts young, upwardly mobile professionals.
• "Mobile workforce": Refers to employees who are not tied to a single location and can work from various places.
  • Technology enables a more mobile workforce.

Variants and Related Words

• Mobility (n): The quality or state of being able to move about freely.
  • The scooter increased her mobility.
• Mobilize (v): To make something capable of movement or to organize resources for action.
  • The army began to mobilize its forces.
• Mobile phone / Cell phone (n compound): A portable telephone.
  • I left my mobile phone at home.

Synonyms

• Portable: Capable of being carried or moved easily.
• Movable: Able to be moved.
• Nomadic: Characterized by moving from place to place.

Related Phrases

• On the move: Actively traveling or progressing.
  • After the meeting, the sales team was on the move again.
• Mobile home: A prefabricated house that can be transported.
  • They live in a mobile home park.

Related Idioms

• A mobile face: An idiom describing a person's face that shows emotions and changes expression easily and quickly.
  • The actor has a wonderfully mobile face, perfect for silent film.

Adjective

1. affording change (especially in social status)
   • Britain is not a truly fluid society
   • upwardly mobile
2. capable of changing quickly from one state or condition to another
   • a highly mobile face
3. having transportation available
4. moving or capable of moving readily (especially from place to place)
   • a mobile missile system
   • the tongue is...the most mobile articulator
5. migratory
   • a restless mobile society
   • the nomadic habits of the Bedouins
   • believed the profession of a peregrine typist would have a happy future
   • wandering tribes

Noun

1. sculpture suspended in midair whose delicately balanced parts can be set in motion by air currents
2. a port in southwestern Alabama on Mobile Bay
3. a river in southwestern Alabama; flows into Mobile Bay