| 释义 |
motivate, v.|ˈməʊtɪveɪt|
[f. motive n. + -ate3, after F. motiver, G. motiviren.]
1. trans. = motive v.; to provide with a stimulus to some kind of action; to direct (a person's energy or behaviour) towards certain goals.
1885Athenæum 14 Feb. 213/1 The chief defect [of the novel] is that the principal events are not sufficiently ‘motivated’. 1901Meader Lat. Pronouns is, hic, etc. 80 Various reasons might have motivated the change. 1924W. B. Selbie Psychol. Relig. iv. 89 Freud has shown very clearly that forgetting is not the unconscious process that we think, but that it is generally motivated. 1949Here & Now (N.Z.) Oct. 29/2 The vast majority of pictures are sexually motivated. 1953‘M. Innes’ Christmas at Candleshoe v. 53 When at fifteen he was eventually packed off to apprenticeship in the city, the action was motivated only by the plain fact that there was nothing else to do with him. 1964M. Argyle Psychol. & Social Probl. xii. 152 A special feature of the teacher's job is the need for him to motivate the pupils—there is no wage incentive for school work, and the competitive marks system is only a partial solution. 1966J. Partridge Middle School vii. 139 A Secondary Modern in which boys are poorly motivated towards their school work at the best of times. 1971E. Dichter (title) Motivating human behavior. 1974Daily Tel. 2 May 22 (Advt.), Can you motivate salesmen? Not an easy task, because these people are supposed to be self-starters.
absol.1863Lytton Caxtoniana II. 259 But Goethe's art was not dramatic; he himself tells us so,..he adds..that, from the philosophical turn of his mind, he ‘motivates’ too much for the stage.
2. To serve as or provide a motive for; to justify.
1970Nature 4 Apr. 44/1 The publisher motivates the slim size of these volumes by claiming it makes them more likely to be read. 1973Physics Bull. Apr. 234/3 The demand for a relativistically acceptable version of momentum conservation is used to motivate the introduction of relativistic concepts of dynamics.
Hence ˈmotivated, ˈmotivating ppl. adjs.
1909Proc. Mod. Lang. Assoc. XXIV. 175 The motivating reason is of another sort. 1928C. J. Warden Outl. Compar. Psychol. v. 126 Punishment was introduced as a motivating stimulus. 1959B. Wootton Social Sci. & Social Path. viii. 245 Their actions appear motiveless or strangely motivated. 1963Economist 23 Nov. 767/2 Some form of sales promotion (the motivated-sell). 1968R. West Sketches from Vietnam iii. 75 The Americans concede with regret that the Vietcong tend to be more highly motivated than the government supporters. 1973Jrnl. Genetic Psychol. CXXII. 198 The majority of subjects..could be regarded as highly motivated to enter university. |