# mobility

/moʊˈbɪɫəti/ (US) · /məʊbˈɪlɪti/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/mobility
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. physical movement

noun · CEFR B2

the ability to move your body or parts of your body freely and easily.

For teachers: the capacity for physical movement, particularly the range of motion in joints or the ability of an individual to walk and travel independently.

- The athlete did daily exercises to improve the mobility in her hips.
- After the surgery, the patient worked closely with a physiotherapist to regain full mobility in his right leg before returning to work.

Usage: Often used with 'in' to specify a body part or 'of' for the person.

### 2. social status

noun · CEFR C1 · Academic

the ability for people to move to a higher or lower social or professional level.

For teachers: the movement of individuals, families, or groups through a system of social hierarchy or stratification.

- Education is often seen as the best way to achieve upward social mobility.
- The report suggests that social mobility has stalled in the region, as children from low-income families struggle to access high-paying professional careers.

Usage: Commonly paired with 'upward', 'downward', or 'social'.

### 3. military movement

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

the ability of a military group to move quickly to a new position.

For teachers: the quality of a military force that permits it to move from place to place while retaining its primary mission capabilities.

- The army used light vehicles to ensure high mobility in the desert.
- Modern warfare relies heavily on air mobility to deploy troops rapidly to remote locations where ground transport is impossible.

### 4. scientific movement

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical

the speed or ease with which particles move through a liquid or gas.

For teachers: the ability of charged particles or molecules to move through a medium, often in response to an electric field.

- The mobility of the ions increased as the temperature of the liquid rose.
- Researchers measured the electron mobility within the new semiconductor material to determine its efficiency for high-speed computing.

### 5. the common people

noun · CEFR C2 · Archaic · Humorous · British English · Slang

a funny or old-fashioned way to talk about a large crowd of ordinary people.

For teachers: a humorous or derogatory term for the common people or a rabble, formed as a play on the word 'nobility'.

- The speaker was worried about how the mobility in the streets would react to the news.
- In the satirical pamphlet, the author mocks the 'mobility' for their fickle nature and lack of political sophistication.

Teaching tip: This sense is extremely rare in modern English and is mostly found in 18th or 19th-century literature.

## Examples

- Regular exercise helps maintain joint mobility as you get older.
- The new high-speed rail link significantly improved labor mobility between the two industrial cities.
- Sociologists argue that access to quality higher education remains the most significant driver of upward social mobility in modern meritocratic societies.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.