mobile

nounA23 meaningsVery rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

A mobile is a mobile phone, and in Britain that is simply what people call it: ring me on my mobile, I've left my mobile at home. It is the phone in your pocket, as opposed to the one on the wall.

As an adjective mobile means able to move, or to be moved, easily — a mobile library that parks in a different village every day, a patient who is mobile again after a hip operation. Americans say cell phone where the British say mobile. And a mobile is also a hanging decoration of light shapes on threads that turn in the air, the kind hung over a baby's cot for the baby to watch.

Definitions of mobile

1nounmobileA phone you carry with you, which works without a wire.A2
“She called me on my mobile from the train.”
2adjectivemoveAble to move, or to be moved, easily.B1
“He is fully mobile again after the operation on his knee.”
3nountoyA hanging decoration of shapes on threads that turn in moving air.C1
“A mobile of paper birds turned slowly above the cot.”

← Vocabulary

mobile

A mobile is a mobile phone, and in Britain that is simply what people call it: ring me on my mobile, I've left my mobile at home. It is the phone in your pocket, as opposed to the one on the wall.

Definitions of mobile

1nounmobileA phone you carry with you, which works without a wire.A2
“She called me on my mobile from the train.”
2adjectivemoveAble to move, or to be moved, easily.B1
“He is fully mobile again after the operation on his knee.”
3nountoyA hanging decoration of shapes on threads that turn in moving air.C1
“A mobile of paper birds turned slowly above the cot.”