motive

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

motive (plural motives)

1. (obsolete) An idea or communication that makes one want to act, especially from spiritual sources; a divine prompting. [14th-17th c.]
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):
     , III.2.1.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. [from 15th c.]
   • 1947, Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano:

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

3. (obsolete, rare) A limb or other bodily organ that can move. [15th-17th c.]

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

4. (law) Something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour. [from 18th c.]

   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. [from 19th c.]
6. (music) A motif; a theme or subject, especially one that is central to the work or often repeated. [from 19th c.]

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

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.

Adjective

motive (not comparable)

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

   a motive argument

   motive power

   • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus, Folio Society 2007, p. 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

Further reading

• motive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• motive in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• motive at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• evomit, move it

Verb

motive

1. first-person singular present indicative of motiver
2. third-person singular present indicative of motiver
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of motiver
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of motiver
5. second-person singular imperative of motiver

Adjective

mōtive

1. vocative masculine singular of mōtivus

Verb

motive

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of motivar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of motivar
3. first-person singular imperative of motivar
4. third-person singular imperative of motivar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [moˈtive]

Noun

motive

1. plural of motiv

Noun

motive (Cyrillic spelling мотиве)

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

Verb

motive

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of motivar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of motivar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of motivar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of motivar.