motile

American  

[moht-l, moh-til] / ˈmoʊt l, ˈmoʊ tɪl /

adjective

1. Biology. moving or capable of moving spontaneously.

   motile cells; motile spores.

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motile British  

/ məʊˈtɪlɪtɪ, ˈməʊtaɪl /

adjective

1. capable of moving spontaneously and independently

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noun

1. psychol a person whose mental imagery strongly reflects movement, esp his own

motile Scientific  

/ mōt′l,mō′tīl′ /

1. Moving or able to move by itself. Sperm and certain spores are motile.

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Other Word Forms

• motility noun
• nonmotile adjective
• unmotile adjective

Etymology

Origin of motile

1860–65; < Latin mōt ( us ) (past participle of movēre to move, set in motion) + -ile

Example Sentences

The bank guarantees a vial will have 10 million or 15 million total motile sperm.

From New York Times

Yilingia, Dr. Xiao noted, “is neither the oldest segmented animal nor the oldest motile animal, but it is thus far the oldest known segmented and motile animal capable of producing long and continuous trails.”

From New York Times

These amoebozoans—a phylum of single-celled eukaryotes—spend most of their lives as individual organisms, but will gather into motile multicellular formations to search for food and reproduce.

From Scientific American

The reconstitution of each element of these motile groups, no matter how detailed, will never explain why groups move in the direction of the gradient but individual elements do not.

From Nature

It is the gametophyte that produces eggs and sperm, and as long as there is plenty of water about to allow the motile sperm to swim to the egg, fertilisation occurs.

From The Guardian

Related Words

• changing
• shifting