Meaning & use
fluidity
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Meanings
noununcountable
The quality of moving or flowing smoothly and freely, like a liquid.
Grammar: Uncountable: the fluidity of her movements.
Patterns
- the fluidity of something
The dancer's fluidity made every step look effortless.
Engineers measure the fluidity of paint before use.
The fluidity of the river's current surprised the swimmers.
noununcountablefigurative
The quality of being able to change or adapt easily, not fixed or rigid.
Grammar: Often used figuratively with identity, rules or markets: the fluidity of the market.
Patterns
- fluidity of something
- fluidity in something
The fluidity of the job market makes planning hard.
She values the fluidity of her work schedule.
The team's fluidity let it respond to sudden changes.
Common combinations
- fluidity of movement
- Gymnasts are praised for their fluidity of movement.
- gender fluidity
- The article discusses gender fluidity.
- social fluidity
- Social fluidity lets people move between classes.
- fluidity of identity
- The novel explores the fluidity of identity.
- market fluidity
- Market fluidity can reward fast decisions.
Synonyms and how they differ
- flexibility
- Flexibility means ability to bend or adjust, while fluidity adds a sense of constant, smooth change.
- grace
- Grace describes elegant movement, but fluidity emphasizes the smooth continuity of it.
- adaptability
- Adaptability is about changing to fit new conditions, whereas fluidity also describes ease of motion.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: fluidity or fluency?
fluidity vs fluency
Fluency is smooth ability in language; fluidity is the quality of flowing or changing easily.
Practice
A critic praised the ballerina's ____, saying every movement flowed into the next.
Choose one answer.
Smooth, flowing motion is fluidity. Rigidity is the opposite, and density and brevity do not describe movement.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fluidity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.