locomote

verb

lo·​co·​mote ˈlō-kə-ˌmōt How to pronounce locomote (audio)
locomoted; locomoting

intransitive verb

: to move about

Examples of locomote in a Sentence

most babies begin to locomote—by crawling—when they are seven to ten months old
Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
So, those are (roughly in order) the hands, the sensory apparatus like vision and haptics and sound and so on, and the ability to locomote to get the hands to work. IEEE Spectrum, 16 May 2023 This study provides a better understanding of the interactions between the foot and the terrain and opens up to new way to design soft robots able to locomote on unstructured terrains. IEEE Spectrum, 8 May 2020 Parents of babies up to age 3 can watch their children locomote on tatami mats or haul themselves up on their jellied legs by holding on to short, fence-like partitions. New York Times, 9 June 2022 The simulated and real robots can use shape change to switch between rolling gaits and inchworm gaits, to locomote in multiple environments. IEEE Spectrum, 23 Jan. 2023 All reasonably healthy individuals can locomote at the necessary speed to beat the cutoffs for any ultramarathon. Jason Koop, Outside Online, 19 July 2017 The general idea of this research is to get robots to learn to locomote in much the way human toddlers do. Matt Simon, Wired, 5 Jan. 2021 The idea of connecting to our ancestral past requires us to locomote as we are evolved to do, using our senses and making sure the mind and body are in union. Bill Hatcher, National Geographic, 28 Feb. 2016

Word History

Etymology

back-formation from locomotion

First Known Use

1831, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of locomote was in 1831

Dictionary Entries Near locomote

Cite this Entry

“Locomote.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/locomote. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024.

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