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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

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

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

Several students spoke up, with some saying they understood the new ban, while others argued it was "infantilising" in a world where mobile phones had become ubiquitous.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026

These are the ads consumers see when they are searching for products on Amazon.com and its mobile app.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

App developers who kick back as much as 30% of their mobile revenue to Apple can now dodge such payments by charging via their own websites.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

She used her opportunity to create a warts-and-all portrait of her over-educated and downwardly mobile milieu.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

Even though he was familiar with the layout of the mobile home site, the elongated shadows made the chaha’oh appear sinister.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

Rep. Shomari Figures’ district lost Mobile, his hometown, reducing its Black population from about 47 percent to roughly 40 percent.

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

Should he beat 28-year-old Machado Garry at the Xfinity Mobile Arena, he will eclipse Anderson Silva's 16 successive wins in the UFC - a record which has stood for 13 years.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

The acquisition would provide Hanwha with Austal’s Mobile, Ala., shipyard and access to major contracts that include some of America’s most sensitive naval programs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Mobile internet speeds will be slowed for 30 minutes during air raid drills in central and northern regions, as the government seeks to expose ordinary people to communications disruptions.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

Yellow fever terrorized many major cities throughout the 1800s—not only Philadelphia and Manhattan, but Boston, Baltimore, Mobile, Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, Savannah, Charleston, and Jacksonville, to name a few.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

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

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

"We have watched it on television, on our mobiles, but the big screen gives us goosebumps."

From Barron's ● Oct. 19, 2025

Cloud-shaped mobiles hung from the ceiling, strands of paper raindrops suspended in midair.

From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day