kinesis

¹ American  

[ki-nee-sis, kahy-] / kɪˈni sɪs, kaɪ- /

noun

Physiology.

1. the movement of an organism in response to a stimulus, as light.

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-kinesis ² American  

1. a combining form with the general sense “movement, activity,” used in the formation of compound words, often with the particular senses “reaction to a stimulus” (photokinesis ), “movement without an apparent physical cause” (telekinesis ), “activity within a cell” (karyokinesis ).

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kinesis British  

/ kɪˈniːsɪs, kaɪ- /

noun

1. biology the nondirectional movement of an organism or cell in response to a stimulus, the rate of movement being dependent on the strength of the stimulus

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Usage

What does -kinesis mean? The combining form -kinesis is used like a suffix meaning “movement, activity.” It can have a variety of senses, including "reaction to a stimulus," "movement without an apparent physical cause," or "activity within a cell." It is often used in scientific and technical terms, especially in biology.The form -kinesis comes from Greek -kīnēsis, meaning “motion,” from the verb kīneîn, “to move.” The Latin cognate of kīneîn is ciēre (stem cit-), meaning “to move, set in motion,” which is the source of words such as cite and resuscitate. To learn more, check out our entries for both words.What are variants of -kinesis?While not a variant of -kinesis, the form -kinesia, meaning "movement, muscular activity," as in hyperkinesia comes from the same Greek root. The adjectival form of -kinesis is -kinetic, as in bradykinetic. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles on -kinesia and -kinetic.

Etymology

Origin of kinesis¹

1900–05; < Greek kī́nēsis movement, equivalent to kīnē-, verbid stem of kīneîn to move + -sis -sis

Origin of -kinesis²

< Greek -kīnēsis; kinesis

Example Sentences

This season’s pieces merged the kinesis of aquatic life with the stasis of geometric shapes.

From Seattle Times

Nikita then created three images by layering all the filmed footage in a time-lapse spanning the duration of the spoken recording, and collapsed it into static kinesis.

From Los Angeles Times

Elsewhere, it was the realm of gentle optical illusion in patterning that gave several ensembles a kinesis.

From Seattle Times

Despite the unwieldy narrative complications, Hosoda achieves an adroit, ultimately instructive balance of kinesis and stillness.

From Los Angeles Times

His hips follow suit, and soon his whole body is in one smooth kinesis.

From New York Times