MOTIVE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Motive

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/mˈoʊtɪv/ Listen

noun

Motive n.

1.

That which moves; a mover. (Obs.)

2.

That which incites to action; anything prompting or exciting to choise, or moving the will; cause; reason; inducement; object; motivation (2). "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."

3.

(Mus.) 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) 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.

Synonyms: 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.

verb

Motive v. t. To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move.

adjective

Motive adj. Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move; as, a motive argument; motive power. "Motive faculty."

Motive power (Mach.), a natural agent, as water, steam, wind, electricity, etc., used to impart motion to machinery; a motor; a mover.

See images of 'Motive'

Etymology of 'Motive'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Motive" Quotes from Famous Books

... infernal regions, can be at all worthy of a comparison with it. I soon met with many of my old Botany Bay acquaintances, who were all eager to offer me their friendship and services; that is, with a view to rob me of what little I had; for, in this place, there is no other motive or subject for ingenuity. All former friendships and connexions are dissolved; and a man here will rob his best benefactor, or even messmate, of an article worth one half-penny. If I were to attempt a full description of the miseries endured in these ...

— The American Quarterly Review, No. 17, March 1831 • Various

... appeared far younger and more elegant than his mother, even were she alive. With his hands folded over his breast, he looked at the sleeping woman; he did not anticipate that Clary, hid behind a tamarind-tree, watched all his movements and almost broke her head in considering what motive brought ...

— The Son of Monte-Cristo, Volume I (of 2) • Alexandre Dumas pere

... "Miss Fairclough warned me of one thing. I put it on one side. It did not seem to be possible. Now I must ask you a question. You have some other motive, have you not, for choosing to come away with me? It is not only because you love me better than any one else in the world, as I do you, and therefore that we belong to one another and it is right and good that we should spend our lives in one another's company? There is ...

— The Zeppelin's Passenger • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... to any one, my niece, in with-holding full confidence until there is evidence that full confidence may be safely bestowed. In the present evil state of the world, involving, as it does, so much of false appearance, hypocrisy, and selfish motive, it is absolutely necessary, especially with one in your situation, to withhold all confidence, until there is unquestionable ...

— Married Life; Its Shadows and Sunshine • T. S. Arthur

... assistance, rendered upon my bare suggestion, without any personal efforts on my part, I shall never cease to feel deeply grateful; and the thought of fulfilling the noble expectations of the dear friends who gave me this evidence of their confidence, will never cease to be a motive for persevering exertion. ...

— My Bondage and My Freedom • Frederick Douglass

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