What is the term used to describe the manner in which water moves and changes form?

The term that describes the manner in which water moves and changes form is known as the hydrologic cycle. This cycle encompasses all processes that involve water as it travels through the various stages in the environment, including evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and infiltration.

The hydrologic cycle illustrates how water evaporates from the earth's surface, rises and cools to form clouds, and then returns to the surface as precipitation. It also includes the processes of runoff and infiltration, where water moves across land and permeates into the ground, highlighting the dynamic flow of water through different systems.

While other terms may refer to specific components of the overall movement of water, such as the evaporation cycle (which only addresses the transformation from liquid to vapor), or precipitation cycle (which focuses solely on the fall of water to the earth), the hydrologic cycle is the most comprehensive term that encapsulates the entirety of water movement and transformation throughout the environment.