motive, motivative(a), motivating
(adjective) impelling to action; āit may well be that ethical language has primarily a motivative functionā- Arthur Pap; āmotive pleasā; āmotivating argumentsā
motivation, motive, need
(noun) the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior; āwe did not understand his motivationā; āhe acted with the best of motivesā
motif, motive
(noun) a design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration
motif, motive
(noun) a theme that is repeated or elaborated in a piece of music
Source: WordNet® 3.1
motive (plural motives)
(obsolete) An idea or communication that makes one want to act, especially from spiritual sources; a divine prompting. [14th-17th c.]
An incentive to act in a particular way; a reason or emotion that makes one want to do something; anything that prompts a choice of action. [from 15th c.]
Synonym: motivation
(obsolete, rare) A limb or other bodily organ that can move. [15th-17th c.]
(law) Something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour. [from 18th c.]
(architecture, fine arts) A motif. [from 19th c.]
(music) A motif; a theme or subject, especially one that is central to the work or often repeated. [from 19th c.]
• (creative works) motif
motive (third-person singular simple present motives, present participle motiving, simple past and past participle motived)
(transitive) To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move.
Synonym: motivate
motive (not comparable)
Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move
Synonym: moving
Relating to motion and/or to its cause
Synonym: motional
• evomit, move it
Source: Wiktionary
Mo"tive, n. Etym: [F. motif, LL. motivum, from motivus moving, fr. L. movere, motum, to move. See Move.]
1. That which moves; a mover. [Obs.] Shak.
2. That which incites to action; anything prompting or exciting to choise, or moving the will; cause; reason; inducement; object. By motive, I mean the whole of that which moves, excites, or invites the mind to volition, whether that be one thing singly, or many things conjunctively. J. Edwards.
3. (Mus.)
Definition: The theme or subject; a leading phrase or passage which is reproduced and varied through the course of a comor a movement; a short figure, or melodic germ, out of which a whole movement is develpoed. See also Leading motive, under Leading. [Written also motivo.]
4. (Fine Arts)
Definition: That which produces conception, invention, or creation in the mind of the artist in undertaking his subject; the guiding or controlling idea manifested in a work of art, or any part of one.
Syn.
– Incentive; incitement; inducement; reason; spur; stimulus; cause.
– Motive, Inducement, Reason. Motive is the word originally used in speaking of that which determines the choice. We call it an inducement when it is attractive in its nature. We call it a reason when it is more immediately addressed to the intellect in the form of argument.
Mo"tive, a.
Definition: Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move; as, a motive argument; motive power. "Motive faculty." Bp. Wilkins. Motive power (Mach.), a natural agent, as water, steam, wind, electricity, etc., used to impart motion to machinery; a motor; a mover.
Mo"tive, v. t.
Definition: To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
22 February 2025
(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., āthe father of the brideā instead of āthe brideās fatherā
The worldās most expensive coffee costs more than US$700 per kilogram. Asian palm civet ā a cat-like creature in Indonesia, eats fruits, including select coffee cherries. It excretes partially digested seeds that produce a smooth, less acidic brew of coffee called kopi luwak.
