motive

Noun

Noun

×

A word that identifies a person, place, thing, or idea.

Plural

motives

Verb

Verb

×

A word that expresses an action, state, or occurrence.

present (v1)

motive

past (v2)

motived

past participle (v3)

motived

present participle

motiving

3rd person singular

motives

Noun

Noun

×

A word that identifies a person, place, thing, or idea.

1. 1.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.

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

2. 2.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.

3. 3.Alternative form of motif.

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

4. 4.A party, gathering, or get-together.

   • What was Tom's motive for doing it?
   • I wonder what Tom's motive for doing that was.

Adjective

Adjective

×

A word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun.

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

   • 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. 2.Relating to motion and/or to its cause

   • Debussy's melody is fractional, fragmentary. But at the core all his music is melodic and melody is its main motive force.

Verb

Verb

×

A word that expresses an action, state, or occurrence.

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

Overall

Uncommon· #3787

By learning goal

Everyday conversation

Rare

General reading & writing

Uncommon

Academic

Rare

Literature

Rare

Synonyms

• need

Word family

• motivation