motive

English

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motive

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English motif, from Anglo-Norman motif, Middle French motif, and their source, Late Latin motivum (“motive, moving cause”), neuter of motivus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊtɪv/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊtɪv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -əʊtɪv, (General American) -oʊtɪv

Noun

motive (plural motives)

1. (obsolete) An idea or communication that makes one want to act, especially from spiritual sources; a divine prompting.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: , 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition III, section 2, member 1, subsection ii:

     there's something in a woman beyond all human delight; a magnetic virtue, a charming quality, an occult and powerful motive.

2. 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.

   Synonym: motivation

   • 1947, Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano, New York: Reynal & Hitchcock:

     Many of them at first seemed kind to him, but it turned out their motives were not entirely altruistic.

   • 2007, Joe Biden, Promises to Keep‎, New York: Random House, published 2008, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 110:

     “Your job here is to find the good things in your colleagues—the things their state saw—and not focus on the bad.”
     I said I understand.
     “And, Joe, never attack another man’s motive, because you don’t know his motive.”

3. (obsolete, rare) A limb or other bodily organ that can move.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]:

     every joint and motive of her body

4. (law) Something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour.

   What would his motive be for burning down the cottage?

   No-one could understand why she had hidden the shovel; her motives were obscure at best.

   • 1931, Francis Beeding, “10/6”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps:

     “Why should Eldridge commit murder? […] There was only one possible motive—namely, he wished to avoid detection as James Selby of Anaconda Ltd. […]”

5. (architecture, fine arts) A motif.
6. (music) A motif; a theme or subject, especially one that is central to the work or often repeated.

   If you listen carefully, you can hear the flutes mimicking the cello motive.

Synonyms

• (creative works) motif

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

motive (third-person singular simple present motives, present participle motiving, simple past and past participle motived)

1. (transitive) To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move.

   Synonym: motivate

Translations

Adjective

motive (not comparable)

1. Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move

   Synonym: moving

   a motive argument

   motive power

   • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus, Folio Society, published 2007, page 195:

     In the motive parts of animals may be discovered mutuall proportions; not only in those of Quadrupeds, but in the thigh-bone, legge, foot-bone, and claws of Birds.

2. Relating to motion and/or to its cause

   Synonym: motional

Translations

Further reading

• “motive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “motive”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “motive”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• evomit, move it

French

Verb

motive

1. inflection of motiver:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Latin

Adjective

mōtīve

1. vocative masculine singular of mōtīvus

Portuguese

Verb

motive

1. inflection of motivar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

motive

1. plural of motiv

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

motive (Cyrillic spelling мотиве)

1. accusative plural of motiv
2. vocative singular of motiv

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /moˈtibe/
• Rhymes: -ibe
• Syllabification: mo‧ti‧ve

Verb

motive

1. inflection of motivar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from French motivé, past participle of motiver.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo.tiˈve/

Adjective

motive

1. motivated

Declension

Derived terms

• motive etmek (“to motivate”)
• motive olmak (“to be motivated”)