as in to shift
to change one's position
most babies begin to locomote—by crawling—when they are seven to ten months old
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Recent Examples of locomote
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 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 simulated and real robots can use shape change to switch between rolling gaits and inchworm gaits, to locomote in multiple environments.
—IEEE Spectrum, 11 Dec. 2020
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 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
New York Times, 9 June 2022
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 simulated and real robots can use shape change to switch between rolling gaits and inchworm gaits, to locomote in multiple environments.
—IEEE Spectrum, 11 Dec. 2020
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 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for locomote
Verb
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Hayes, 55, appears alone onstage, shifting between stark stillness and tightly wound intensity as the story closes in around him.—
Dave Quinn,
PEOPLE,
1 Feb. 2026
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And given its compact construction, only someone with a small build could navigate the passage by hunching over or shifting sideways, presenting an awkward picture.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
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By rolling MXene flakes into tubes, the team created hollow structures that allow ions to move more freely.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
30 Jan. 2026
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Karlee Smith jumped on a quad bike to help herd sheep away from the fast-moving flames on a farm in the town of Gellibrand, a small rural town, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of Melbourne.—
Helen Regan,
CNN Money,
30 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The bonito’s body twitched until Yamasaki slid a thin metal wire down the column of its spinal cord, a second step called shinkei jime, which arrests its nervous system.—
Hannah Goldfield,
New Yorker,
19 Jan. 2026
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Persistent muscle twitches Everyone’s muscles twitch from time to time, usually at various locations.—
Angela Haupt,
Time,
15 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Locomote.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/locomote. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.
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