Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

motorbike

American  
[moh-ter-bahyk] / ˈmoʊ tərˌbaɪk /

noun

  • motorbikes
    plural
  1. a small, lightweight motorcycle.

  2. a bicycle that is propelled by an attached motor.


verb (used without object)

motorbiked, motorbiking
  1. to go by motorbike; drive or ride a motorbike.

motorbike British  
/ ˈməʊtəˌbaɪk /

noun

  1. a less formal name for motorcycle

"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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Etymology

Origin of motorbike

First recorded in 1900–05; motor + bike 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Long queues of people could be seen evacuating towns on foot, by motorbike and car, some piled into the back of pickup trucks.

From Barron's Aug. 15, 2026

Motorbikes quickly became popular, and the city now accounts for more than a third of China's total motorbike production.

From Barron's Aug. 2, 2026

The death of Oscar-winning singer-songwriter Glen Hansard in a motorbike crash in Dublin on Wednesday has been met with widespread shock and grief.

From BBC Jul. 30, 2026

It blows my hair back, like I'm riding a motorbike at speed.

From BBC Jul. 29, 2026

We did find a broken loom and the bones of a motorbike.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

Living up to its namesake, fast cars, helicopters and motorbikes also grace the game's brightly coloured cover, created in the series' signature pop-art style.

From BBC Jun. 18, 2026

Some young men rode in on their motorbikes and cars they tricked out themselves.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 12, 2026

In some villages, microfinance officers on motorbikes turned up for land-title distribution ceremonies, ready to write new loans.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 11, 2026

The company's first line of 100 motorbikes sold out.

From BBC Jun. 11, 2026

‘Wreuurrrrr,’ I went, like the Earl’s Court motorbikes.

From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd

Just over one kilometre from the finish line on stage 12, the Briton was forced to run without a bicycle following a crash with a motorbiked on Mont Ventoux.

From BBC Jul. 3, 2026

Really anxious to see him, I motorbiked down to their house.

From Tatterdemalion by John Galsworthy

Teams of sellers hawk their filming services to passersby, many of whom have been drawn to the city and its cyberpunk image by motorbiking videos on social media shot against the neon-lit nightscape.

From Barron's Aug. 2, 2026

Mr and Mrs Foreman, both 52 from East Sussex, were motorbiking from Spain to Australia when they crossed into Iran on 31 December.

From BBC Jul. 9, 2025

A more progressive era dawned with the arrival last year of Françoise Lehmann, Lancôme’s 55-year-old motorbiking general manager.

From New York Times May 10, 2018

He loves it, for the motorbiking and because “all the schools are like Grease”.

From The Guardian Jan. 14, 2017

There are features on French wines and women, fashions in leather and rough-country motorbiking.

From Time Magazine Archive

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training