mobile

 
Pronunciation: /ˈməʊbʌɪl/

adjective

  • 1able to move or be moved freely or easily: he has a weight problem and is not very mobile highly mobile international capital
  • (of the face or its features) indicating feelings with fluid and expressive movements: her mobile features worked overtime to register shock and disapproval
  • (of a shop, library, or other service) accommodated in a vehicle so as to travel around and serve various places: a mobile library visits once a fortnight a cup of tea from the mobile canteen
  • (of a military or police unit) equipped and prepared to move quickly to any place it is needed: at first the regiment’s role was to act as a mobile reserve
  • 2relating to mobile phones, handheld computers, and similar technology: the next generation of mobile networks a mobile device
  • 3able or willing to move easily or freely between occupations, places of residence, or social classes: an increasingly mobile society

noun

  • 1a decorative structure that is suspended so as to turn freely in the air: brightly coloured mobiles rotated from the ceiling
  • 2British a mobile phone: we telephoned from our mobile to theirs

Phrases

upwardly (or downwardly) mobile

moving to a higher (or lower) social class; acquiring (or losing) wealth and status: the old middle class lost ground to upwardly mobile immigrant groups

Origin:

late 15th century: via French from Latin mobilis, from movere 'to move'. The noun dates from the 1940s