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 • Jul. 3, 2023

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 • Jul. 20, 2022

A similar, but more directed version of kinesis is taxis: the directed movement towards or away from a stimulus.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

The nifty effect lends the production a jaunty cinematic sense of kinesis, while also helping to propel the evening’s farcical mechanics.

From Washington Post • Jul. 30, 2018

Her hair, unburned, was wild once more, still crackling with the fire’s kinesis, and Sarai knew that if she touched it, it would feel like a bed of coals, and so would her bare skin.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor