motive
/ˈməʊtɪv
/noun
1A reason for doing something: police were unable to establish a motive for his murder...
- There's an ulterior motive behind everything they do.
- When someone offers you help, must you seek out an ulterior motive behind the gesture?
- The key ethical and legal point is the intention - the motive behind the act.
Synonyms
reason, motivation, motivating force, rationale, grounds, cause, basis, occasion, thinking, the whys and wherefores, object, purpose, intention, design;
incentive, inducement, impulse, incitement, influence, lure, inspiration, stimulus, stimulation, spur, goad, provocation, pressure, persuasion, consideration
2A motif in art, literature, or music.Then think about the grail motive as a background to the Bruckner Adagio....
- To cultivate this process, the student should become acquainted with the motive upon which the composition is based.
- This is the predominant trichord of most sets and functions as a signature motive.
Synonyms
motif, theme, idea, concept, subject, topic, leitmotif, trope, element
adjective [attributive]
1Producing physical or mechanical motion: the charge of gas is the motive force for every piston stroke...
- The change of motion is proportional to the motive force impressed; and is made in the direction of the straight line in which that force is impressed.
- With the invention of the internal combustion engine, in the late 19th century, new possibilities of motive force became available.
- It may be powered by hand, pedal, or some other motive force such as a suitably geared lawn mower engine or the electric motor taken from a discarded washing machine.
Synonyms
kinetic, driving, impelling, propelling, propulsive, operative, moving, motor
2Causing or being the reason for something: the motive principle of a writer’s work...
- Its motive force is protection and care, but it does not give enough space to personal liberty.
- Fascists themselves claimed that ultranationalism was their motive force, and that the realization of the mobilized national community was their goal.
- Rather, it's the essential motive force for a technologically vibrant economy.
Derivatives
motiveless
/ adjective ...- A spokesman said: ‘This totally unprovoked and motiveless assault was a terrifying ordeal for the young man who had just finished work and was making his way home.’
- He grabbed her by the shoulder and head-butted her in a motiveless and unprovoked attack.
- He said: ‘This was a random and motiveless attack on a defenceless man.’
motivelessly
motivelessness
motivity
/ noun ...- Among the gaseous fuels, this has the best motivity factor.
- The lost motivity is essentially not restorable otherwise than by an agency dealing with individual atoms; and the mode of dealing with the atoms to restore motivity is essentially a process of assortment, sending this way all of one kind or class, that way all of another kind or class.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French motif (adjective used as a noun), from late Latin motivus, from movere 'to move'.
Rhymes
- national
- national anthem
- National Assembly
- National Assistance
- National Assistance Board
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- National Audit Office
- national bank
- National Capital Territory of Delhi
- national character
- national characteristic
- national church
- National City
- national committee
- national committeeman
- national committeewoman
- national convention
- national curriculum
- national debt
- National Defence Contribution
- National Defense Contribution
- national epic
- national football
- National Football League
- national forest