kinetic
[ki-net-ik, kahy-]
- pertaining to motion.
- caused by motion.
- characterized by movement: Running and dancing are kinetic activities.
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Origin of kinetic
1850–55; < Greek kīnētikós moving, equivalent to kīnē- (verbid stem of kīneîn to move) + -tikos -tic
-kinetic
- a combining form found on adjectives that correspond to nouns ending in -kinesia or -kinesis: bradykinetic.
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Origin of -kinetic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for kinetic
Contemporary Examples
What looks like filthy chaos at the moment is actually the kinetic energy that gives birth to modern metropolises.
There was a kinetic energy, a vibrancy that leapt off the screen that did, indeed, dazzle.
Later, in 1996, Perry turned a quick $38,000 profit thanks to a fortuitously timed investment in Kinetic Concepts stock.
It is an impressive film: crisp, beautiful, kinetic, with humor as dark as its lighting.
Historical Examples
The kinetic theory of gas is an assertion of ultimate chaos.
The Education of Henry AdamsHenry Adams
Kinetic atoms led only to motion; never to direction or progress.
The Education of Henry AdamsHenry Adams
Do you mean that that little thing is converting heat to kinetic energy?
The Big BounceWalter S. Tevis
As the most vital fact of modern life it is a kinetic force.
Socialism: Positive and NegativeRobert Rives La Monte
I still remember that the spinning of a top is a case of Kinetic Stability.
kinetic
- relating to, characterized by, or caused by motion
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Word Origin
C19: from Greek kinētikos, from kinein to move
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for kinetic
adj.
"relating to motion," 1841, from Greek kinetikos "moving, putting in motion," from kinetos "moved," verbal adjective of kinein "to move" (see cite).
Buster Keaton's subject was kinetic man, a being he approached with the almost metaphysical awe we reserve for a Doppelgänger. This being was, eerily, himself, played by himself, then later in a projection room, watched by himself: an experience never possible to any generation of actors in the previous history of the world. [Hugh Kenner, "The Counterfeiters," 1968]
Related: Kinetical; kinetically.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
kinetic
(kə-nĕt′ĭk, kī-)- Of, relating to, or produced by motion.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.