as in to shift
to change one's position most babies begin to locomote—by crawling—when they are seven to ten months old

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of locomote 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for locomote
Verb
  • Though there is more clarity on the potential composition of the fiscal package, tariff policy uncertainty can shift at moment’s notice.
    Diane Brady, Fortune, 20 June 2025
  • Temperatures above 75 to 80°F can trigger bolting, at which point the plants shift their energy into flowering and stop producing new foliage.
    Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 20 June 2025
Verb
  • Wales have done well under Wilkinson to move away from a hardened reputation as being Fishlock’s team and become more of a sum of their parts.
    Megan Feringa, New York Times, 27 June 2025
  • Employees are held to high speed standards, with some scanning up to 1,200 items an hour to keep lines moving.
    Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 26 June 2025
Verb
  • Animated objects tend to activate the deeply rooted human impulse to perceive things that move as alive—a tendency harnessed to great effect in the uncannily twitching wires of Pol Bury’s reliefs or Robert Breer’s creeping domes.
    Marina Isgro, Artforum, 1 June 2025
  • The early symptoms include muscle weakness, cramps, twitching, stiff muscles, speech challenges, trouble swallowing, and drooling.
    Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 June 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Locomote.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/locomote. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!