ambulation

noun

am·​bu·​la·​tion ˌam-byə-ˈlā-shən 

plural ambulations

: the act, action, or an instance of moving about or walking

There is no better way to experience a sense of place than taking a walk. Sam Miller took a grand one, a great spiraling ambulation starting at the heart of Delhi … and working its way to the outer precincts.

—Peter Lewis

—used chiefly in medical contexts

In 1938, early ambulation after surgery was still considered a threat to the recently sutured wound.

—Richard Warren

… proper mobility strategies after a fall may minimize complications. Although resumption of upright stance for ambulation is optimal, even crawling or change of positions on the ground is usually preferable to lying stationary …

—Edison H. Wong

… many polio survivors have had to start using ambulation aids, change from crutches to wheelchairs, or exchange manual chairs for motorized chairs.

—Grace R. Young

Examples of ambulation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That decisive moment proved that a little dystrophin goes a long way, regardless of a patient’s age or ambulation. —Jennifer Handt, STAT, 22 Apr. 2024

In McGuire’s case, that means addressing two major problems for him: speaking and ambulation—the act of walking. —Steven Aquino, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022

Traits like color vision, bipedal ambulation, and prolonged infanthood have all been attributed to evolutionary pressures that favored the people who carried certain genes. —Sara Harrison, Wired, 21 Dec. 2021

Jeremy DeSilva, a paleoanthropologist, is more circumspect about human ambulation. —Washington Post, 5 June 2021

The movement among these small explosions is what provides the plot, the ambulation. —David Wallace, The New Yorker, 23 Nov. 2020

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin ambulātiōn-, ambulātiō "act of walking, stroll," from ambulāre "to go by foot, walk for pleasure or health, travel" + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of verbal action — more at amble entry 1

First Known Use

1574, in the meaning defined above