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motive - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'motive' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Motive [ a.]
- Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move; as, a motive argument; motive power.
2 . Motive [ n.]
- That which moves; a mover.
- That which incites to action; anything prompting or exciting to choise, or moving the will; cause; reason; inducement; object.
- 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.
- 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.
3 . Motive [ v. t.]
- To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move.

Meaning of 'motive' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . motive [ n]
Meaning (1):
- 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
Example in sentence:
  • he acted with the best of motives;
  • we did not understand his motivation
2 . motive [ s]
Meaning (2):
- causing or able to cause motion
Example in sentence:
  • a motive force;
  • motive power;
  • motor energy
Meaning (3):
- impelling to action
Example in sentence:
  • it may well be that ethical language has primarily a motivative function;
  • motivating arguments;
  • motive pleas

Nearby Words:

mot motacil motation mote moted motet moth moth-eat mothen mother

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