Motion, movement, move, locomotion, stir mean the act or an instance of moving.
Motion is the appropriate term in abstract use for the act or process of moving, without regard to what moves or is moved; in philosophical and aesthetic use it is an especially comprehensive term, for it may apply to manifestation of change or of changing not only from place to place, but from condition to condition, or from step to step in a progression.
Ordinarily, however, the term implies discernible physical moving.
Movement usually implies definite regulated motion; the term is used less often than motion to denote an abstraction, although it may be extended to denote a quality of representation in a work of art that suggests motion or a quality in literary work (as poetry) that suggests a definite rate of speed or progression (as in the meter, the rhythm, or the action).
In concrete use movement implies a passage, whether self-initiated or under guidance or compulsion, from place to place, from situation to situation, or from condition to condition; it may, in this sense, be used interchangeably with motion in the collective singular or in the plural.
Movement also is frequently used for an instance of moving.
Move is particularly likely to denote a beginning of a movement or to apply to a definite instance of moving or moving something from one place to another. The word may stress the notion of change and then is particularly applicable to a changing of one’s abode or to a physical or figurative moving to attain an end or objective.
Locomotion usually suggests travel especially by artificial means (as by boat, train, airplane, or automobile), but it may apply to natural means (as wings or legs).
Stir applies to a motion or movement, often without an implication of changes of place or condition or of progress, that involves a not necessarily displeasing disturbance especially of what has been quiet or at rest or free from excitement, bustle, or agitation.