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• mobile
  mobile

  adjective

  capable of moving or being moved readily.
• Mobile
  Mobile

  noun

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

mobile

¹ American  

[moh-buhl, -beel, -bahyl] / ˈmoʊ bəl, -bil, -baɪl /

adjective

1. capable of moving or being moved readily.

2. 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

3. utilizing motor vehicles for ready movement.

   a mobile library.

4. Military. permanently equipped with vehicles for transport.

5. flowing freely, as a liquid.

6. changeable or changing easily in expression, mood, purpose, etc..

   a mobile face.

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

8. Sociology.

   1. characterized by or permitting the mixing of social groups.

   2. characterized by or permitting relatively free movement from one social class or level to another.

9. of or relating to a mobile.

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noun

• mobiles
  plural

1. 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.

2. mobile phone.

3. Informal. a mobile home.

4. Citizens Band Radio Slang. a vehicle.

Mobile ² American  

[moh-beel, moh-beel] / moʊˈbil, ˈmoʊ bil /

noun

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

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

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-mobile ³ American  

1. 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.

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-mobile ¹ British  

/ məʊˌbiːl /

suffix

1. indicating a vehicle designed for a particular person or purpose

   Popemobile

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Mobile ² British  

/ ˈməʊbiːl, məʊˈbiːl /

noun

1. 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)

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mobile ³ British  

/ ˈməʊbaɪl /

adjective

1. having freedom of movement; movable

2. changing quickly in expression

   a mobile face

3. sociol (of individuals or social groups) moving within and between classes, occupations, and localities

   upwardly mobile

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

5. informal (postpositive) having transport available

   are you mobile tonight?

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noun

1. 1. a sculpture suspended in midair with delicately balanced parts that are set in motion by air currents

   2. ( as modifier ) Compare stabile

      mobile sculpture

2. short for mobile phone

mobile Cultural  

1. A sculpture made up of suspended shapes that move.

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Discover More

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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonmobile
  adjective
• semimobile
  adjective
• unmobile
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mobiles
  plural

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Etymology

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

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Explanation

When something is mobile it can move or be moved easily. If you walk to the end of the block talking on your cell phone, you are a mobile being using a mobile device. A mobile is something you hang over a crib to entertain the baby, or a scale model of the universe. In 1940, the word mobile was first used to refer to a house that could be easily moved — a mobile home. If someone says to you jokingly that they "are not mobile," it means that their car is not working. It will be hard for them to be upwardly mobile, or to improve their social status, if they don't get mobile and get to work soon!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mobile Mobile -mobile mobiles

Thirteen minutes later, Zach Witkoff’s mobile phone buzzed a disturbing call from his chief technology officer: He, too, had spotted something wrong at Binance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

In October, Vantara returned an orangutan it said it had rescued from traffickers in 2024 to Indonesia and offered to open 10 mobile veterinary centres nationwide.

From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026

The Daily Mail published articles with photos of the defendant, including one showing him "reclining on a sunbed using his mobile telephone".

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

Schulman said he sees “absolutely no benefit” to extending a mobile virtual network-operator deal to a satellite provider.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026

He started to walk back to the mobile home.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

Mobile connections are also widely used to monitor equipment in power plants and water networks, allowing engineers to manage systems remotely.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026

The competitive threat posed by SpaceX discouraged the three major national carriers but buying into Boost Mobile could represent a back-door entry for Musk.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026

Telecom stocks are tumbling on news that SpaceX is aiming to secure 80,000 cell sites across the US, raising the specter of fierce competition between the industry’s big three and Starlink Mobile.

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

Mobile operators may benefit from higher average revenue per user, enterprise growth and cost savings, while fixed-line operators stand to gain from rising demand for data-center connectivity, she adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

The boxy vehicle has a yellow paint base with the name “Sandy June’s Mobile Frybread Food Truck” elegantly lettered across its long side.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Regardless of our religious backgrounds or belief systems, we tend to take note not only of what the pope says and does, but what he wears, what kind of -mobile he’s driven around in — and what he eats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2016

"Due to the Tugberk Imamoglu not responding to any calls and the crew not answering their mobiles... it is believed the cargo ship has sunk," it said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

Over time, her work expanded to include glass and brass mobiles and wall hangings, which are now sold in independent shops and museum gift stores across the country.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

Elsewhere, a couple of people scrolled on their mobiles, seemingly incapable of focusing on the big screen.

From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026

The families worked closely at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where they funded a major expansion and filled its rooms with their Warhol paintings and Calder mobiles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026

Naomi was designing reflective mobiles to hang from the basketball hoops.

From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman

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