Motorcycle Meaning
/ˈməʊtəˌsaɪkəl/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn open-seated motor vehicle with handlebars instead of a steering wheel, and having two (or sometimes three) wheels.
verbTo ride a motorcycle.
Sentence Examples
You're playing with fire if you insist on riding your motorcycle without a helmet on.
Why don't you get rid of your motorcycle? You never ride it any more.
He never learned to ride a motorcycle or to drive a car.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She parked her ____ in the bike rack near the entrance of the building.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I always wear a sturdy helmet and a protective jacket whenever I ride my ____ to ensure that I am safe on the road.
Word Origin & History
From motor + cycle, from the Motorcyclette produced in 1897 by the French Werner Frères et Cie.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Her big mission is to recover the precious Blue Star (a glowing rock in a box), which leads to a Western shoot-out, a space-age motorcycle gang, and an unamusing Darth Vader-esque villain."
— 1995 October 26, Steven Puchalski, “Can these sci-fi videos show us the Woman of the Future?”, in Sci Fi Entertainment, page 36:
"That last problem did intrude on Hazzard’s roamings, and when she refers to the living city it is with periodic references to thefts of cars and wallets, with a warning not to carry anything “snatchable” by the thieves on motorcycles who whiz through the streets. Her husband, Francis Steegmuller, the critic, translator and biographer who died in 1994, had a bag snatched, and while he lost only a guidebook, he was badly injured as he held on to it and was dragged behind the attacking motorcycle."
— 2009 February 15, Judith Martin, “It Started in Naples”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2022:
"Vern rubbed her hands along the motorcycles, admiring their size and power, their silver and black sleekness."
— 2021, Rivers Solomon, Sorrowland, #Merky Books, page 43:
"Her breakout was the 2017 production “Nate” (available as a Netflix special) in which she played a toxic, handsy bro who drove a motorcycle onstage, guzzling beers, groping audience members and creating chaos."
— 2025 October 7, Jason Zinoman, “What Clowns! (That’s a Compliment)”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Oct 2025:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
She parked her ____ in the bike rack near the entrance of the building.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I always wear a sturdy helmet and a protective jacket whenever I ride my ____ to ensure that I am safe on the road.