mobile

[ moh-buhl, -beel or, especially British, -bahyl ]

/ ˈmoʊ bəl, -bil or, especially British, -baɪl /

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adjective

capable of moving or being moved readily.

Digital Technology. pertaining to or noting a cell phone, usually one with computing ability, or a portable, wireless computing device used while held in the hand, as in mobile tablet; mobile PDA; mobile app.

utilizing motor vehicles for ready movement: a mobile library.

Military. permanently equipped with vehicles for transport.

flowing freely, as a liquid.

changeable or changing easily in expression, mood, purpose, etc.: a mobile face.

quickly responding to impulses, emotions, etc., as the mind.

Sociology.

characterized by or permitting the mixing of social groups.
characterized by or permitting relatively free movement from one social class or level to another.

of or relating to a mobile.

noun

a piece of sculpture having delicately balanced units constructed of rods and sheets of metal or other material suspended in midair by wire or twine so that the individual parts can move independently, as when stirred by a breeze.Compare stabile (def. 3).

mobile phone.

Informal. a mobile home.

Citizens Band Radio Slang. a vehicle.

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Origin of mobile

First recorded in 1450–1500; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin, neuter of mōbilis “movable,” contraction of assumed movibilis, equivalent to movi- (stem of movēre “to set in motion, impel, move”) + -bilis adjective suffix; see origin at move,-ble

OTHER WORDS FROM mobile

non·mo·bile, adjectivesem·i·mo·bile, adjectiveun·mo·bile, adjective

Other definitions for mobile (2 of 3)

Mobile

[ moh-beel, moh-beel ]

/ moʊˈbil, ˈmoʊ bil /

noun

a seaport in SW Alabama at the mouth of the Mobile River.

a river in SW Alabama, formed by the confluence of the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers. 38 miles (61 km) long.

Other definitions for mobile (3 of 3)

-mobile

a combining form extracted from automobile, occurring as the final element in compounds denoting specialized types of motorized conveyances: snowmobile; especially productive in coinages naming vehicles equipped to procure or deliver objects, provide services, etc., to people without regular access to these: bloodmobile; bookmobile; clubmobile; jazzmobile.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use mobile in a sentence

“I sense that mobile games are starting to shed their skin, getting rid of all the dead things they carry around,” he says.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
According to court testimony by the lead NCIS investigator, it contained various mobile phones and even valuable letters.
The Navy ‘Hero’ Who Pimped an HIV-Positive Teen|M.L. Nestel|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The system is truck-mounted and road-mobile, as are the big and conspicuous radars that stood next to it on display.
How China Will Track—and Kill—America’s Newest Stealth Jets|Bill Sweetman|December 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The caller mentioned my work, which focused primarily on consumer products, mobile apps, emerging start-ups, and web trends.
A Female Writer’s New Milestone: Her First Death Threat|Annie Gaus|December 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Prison guards in Lima found a contraband mobile phone in his prison cell that he claimed was given to him by the warden.
Did Joran Van Der Sloot Fake His Prison Shanking?|Andrea Zarate, Barbie Latza Nadeau|November 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Industrial society is therefore mobile, elastic, standing at any moment in a temporary and unstable equilibrium.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
She did not answer, but her mobile, painted lips quivered, as if she were trying to repress a smile and were not quite succeeding.
Bella Donna|Robert Hichens
John N. Maffit, the well known and eccentric methodist preacher, died at Mobile.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
With him prayer was a thing of absolute necessity, and resignation to the eternal decrees the primum mobile of all.
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 1 (of 10)|Franois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
It may be said that among uncivilized and barefoot people the great toe is usually very mobile.
Man And His Ancestor|Charles Morris

British Dictionary definitions for mobile (1 of 3)

mobile

/ (ˈməʊbaɪl) /

adjective

having freedom of movement; movable

changing quickly in expressiona mobile face

sociol (of individuals or social groups) moving within and between classes, occupations, and localitiesupwardly mobile

(of military forces) able to move freely and quickly to any given area

(postpositive) informal having transport availableare you mobile tonight?

noun

a sculpture suspended in midair with delicately balanced parts that are set in motion by air currents
(as modifier)mobile sculpture Compare stabile

short for mobile phone

Word Origin for mobile

C15: via Old French from Latin mōbilis, from movēre to move

British Dictionary definitions for mobile (2 of 3)

Mobile

/ (ˈməʊbiːl, məʊˈbiːl) /

noun

a port in SW Alabama, on Mobile Bay (an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico): the state's only port and its first permanent settlement, made by French colonists in 1711. Pop: 193 464 (2003 est)

British Dictionary definitions for mobile (3 of 3)

-mobile

/ (məʊˌbiːl) /

suffix forming nouns

indicating a vehicle designed for a particular person or purposePopemobile

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for mobile

mobile

A sculpture made up of suspended shapes that move.

notes for mobile

Alexander Calder, a twentieth-century American sculptor, is known for his mobiles.

mobile

Origin of mobile

OTHER WORDS FROM mobile

Other definitions for mobile (2 of 3)

Other definitions for mobile (3 of 3)

Words related to mobile

How to use mobile in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for mobile (1 of 3)

Word Origin for mobile

British Dictionary definitions for mobile (2 of 3)

British Dictionary definitions for mobile (3 of 3)

Cultural definitions for mobile

notes for mobile