immobility
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of immobility
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English word from Late Latin word immōbilitās. See im- 2, mobility
Explanation
Immobility is the state of not being able to move around. If you fall out of a tree and break your arms and legs, then you will have to put up with months of immobility while your bones heal. Immobility could mean the condition of not being able to move, like that poor mouse stuck in a glue trap whose immobility will lead to its starvation. Immobility can also just mean the state of not moving. If you are entranced by a beautiful sunset, you might stand with quiet immobility while watching the sky.
Vocabulary lists containing immobility
And Then There Were None
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Feed
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As I Lay Dying
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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.
Immobility sets in, and eventually, the heart beats for the last time.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 7, 2025
Immobility has a way making a person more acutely aware of and appreciative for the simple things in life.
From Golf Digest • Mar. 22, 2018
Immobility, im-mo-bil′i-ti, n. the character of being immovable.—adj.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
Immobility and silence pressed on him, assailed him, like two accomplices of the immovable and mute woman before his eyes.
From Tales of Unrest by Conrad, Joseph
Immobility of several centuries, immobility in beings and in things,—one has more and more the consciousness of it as one penetrates farther into this country of forests and of silence.
From Ramuntcho by Loti, Pierre
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
