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
The most likely explanation is that worms, which need moisture to locomote, take advantage of the rain to go exploring above ground.
—
Joan Morris, Mercury News, 27 Apr. 2026
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
Joan Morris, Mercury News, 27 Apr. 2026
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for locomote
Verb
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The day after that loss, per team sources, Brunson approached the team before practice about needing to re-shift the collective mindset.—
James L. Edwards III,
New York Times,
11 May 2026
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But the following year, as the pandemic wore on and crime rates ticked up, the politics of criminal justice in the city shifted toward law-and-order anxiety, even as new waves of COVID infection struck the jails.—
Molly Fischer,
New Yorker,
11 May 2026
Verb
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The campaign now moves forward with voters weighing sharply different visions for California’s future as the primary draws closer.—
James Ward,
USA Today,
15 May 2026
-
The Raiders had their worst season since moving to Las Vegas last year.—
Sam Warren,
New York Times,
15 May 2026
Verb
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Here, American fighter planes, cargo ships and Japanese freighters have spent decades transforming into thriving artificial reefs, draped in coral and surrounded by twitching clouds of tropical fish.—
Dea Jusufi,
Forbes.com,
9 May 2026
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Pebbles twitched, branches waggled, cholla wiggled, weeds erupted then dried up and died.—
Alina Hartounian,
NPR,
20 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Locomote.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/locomote. Accessed 16 May. 2026.
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