Saltatorial

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or characterized by jumping or leaping motions; pertaining to animals adapted for hopping or springing; describing movements that involve sudden or vigorous bounds
2. Connected with actions involving leaps or jumps; associated with creatures that move by springing; indicating a style or method marked by abrupt upward or forward motions
3. Pertaining to the ability or process of making jumps; linked to species specialized in hopping locomotion; signifying dynamics that feature quick, bounding movements

Etymology: "Saltatorial" is built from a Latin adjective that descends from "saltare," meaning "to dance" or "to leap," a frequentative of "salire," to jump. The Latin "saltatorius" carried the sense of dancing or of leaping, and English took the root through "saltatory," which describes the same kinetic quality of jumping or dancing movement. The added "-al" is an ordinary English adjectival suffix, so the word is essentially "saltatory" with a second adjective ending stacked onto it. The word's most notable thread is its link to other familiar words built on "salire." Latin "saltus," a leap, gave English "assault," "result," and "somersault," the last of which preserves the original leaping idea in a barely disguised form. Zoologists and entomologists have used the adjective to describe the jumping legs of grasshoppers, fleas, and frogs, so the word's sense stays tied to the physical act of springing rather than drifting into abstraction.

Synonyms: jumping, leaping, springing, hopping

Antonyms: walking, crawling, creeping