Movement

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈmuːv.mənt/

Definitions

1. A change in position or location, or an organized effort by a group working toward a common goal
2. The act or process of changing place or position physically ; a group effort by individuals united to promote or achieve a shared objective
3. A physical shift or travel from one location to another ; an organized campaign or campaign by people working together for social, political, or cultural goals

Etymology: Before "movement" meant the motion of a body, English speakers used the Old English word "styring" for much the same idea, and that native word is the one that gave way. The borrowed term arrived from Old French "movement", which descends from "movoir", the Old French form of the Latin verb "movere" meaning "move". English added the suffix "-ment" to the root, so the word is built from "move" plus that ending. Its sense of a body of people acting together for a shared aim is a later extension of the basic idea of motion. The word also belongs to a small family of doublets: "moment" and "momentum" come from the same Latin root by a different route, so they share an ancestor with "movement" while sounding quite unlike it.

Synonyms: motion, activity, progress, shift, change

Antonyms: stagnation, stillness, inactivity