Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2024 August 13

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

August 13

Motion vs Movement

What's the diffrence between "motion" and "movement"? Robert Martin 515 (talk) 01:57, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

Where have you seen them used differently? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:11, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

For example, "motion picture" and "moving picture" are the same thing. For some etymology, see [1] and [2]. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:14, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

The word "movement" occurs many times in our Labanotation article, while the word "motion" only appears once (in an image caption). It also appears in the names of Benesh Movement Notation, International Movement Writing Alphabet, and Eshkol Wachman Movement Notation... AnonMoos (talk) 02:55, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

The Wiktionary entry for the noun motion lists 12 senses, giving movement as a synonym for only two of these (which can be argued to be the same sense). Conversely, at movement we find 11 senses, giving motion as a synonym for only one. For the overlapping sense, physical motion between points in space, there are some differences in idiomatic use. "Do not travel between cars while the train is in motion" is a common safety advice in North America, with trains that have large gaps between train cars. One will rarely hear, "while the train is in movement". Conversely, there are health regulations concerning "the movement of pets across state lines". This is about pets being transported. If one says, "the motion of pets", it will be understood as implying that the pets themselves are the agents of their moving.  --Lambiam 08:02, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

Thinking of the typical Robert's Rules bit: "I move we adjourn." "I second that motion." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:42, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

"Motion" is often used to describe an interesting form of movement, such as Brownian motion, simple harmonic motion (the motion of the ocean), perpetual motion, James Watt's parallel motion linkage, slow motion and stop motion. It has an air of specificity. I see the Latin roots are moveo (a verb) and motio (a noun).  Card Zero  (talk) 14:55, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

This is a second conjugation verb whose parts are moveo, movere, movi, motum. Nouns are frequently formed by adding -io to the stem of the gerund, thus motio. It does not have the endings I would expect of a second conjugation verb, but my Latin is very rusty. 91.234.214.10 (talk) 16:06, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

Perhaps, but see feminist movement, Esperanto movement, hippie movement, and dozens of other examples here. The use is similar to what you suggest for motion, though in these cases, the movement is at least somewhat metaphorical in the sense that what is being moved is people's opinions or ideologies rather than physical things. Matt Deres (talk) 13:30, 14 August 2024 (UTC)