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Motive   /mˈoʊtɪv/   Listen
Motive

noun
1.
The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior.  Synonyms: motivation, need.  "He acted with the best of motives"
2.
A theme that is repeated or elaborated in a piece of music.  Synonym: motif.
3.
A design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration.  Synonym: motif.
adjective
1.
Causing or able to cause motion.  Synonym: motor.  "Motive power" , "Motor energy"
2.
Impelling to action.  Synonyms: motivating, motivative.  "Motive pleas" , "Motivating arguments"



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"Motive" Quotes from Famous Books



... not seek to learn. Trust Davidson to make money, and to make the most of life also as he went along. He always had the best of everything; and surely now he had, for the leisurely, ease-seeking Belle Helene, not actuated by any vast motive beyond that of the bee and the honey flower, slipped on down and ahead with perfect ease, while we, grimy, slow, determined, plowed on in her wake losing miles each hour the graceful Belle Helene chose to show us her light disdainful heels, serenely indifferent ...
— The Lady and the Pirate - Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate and a Fair Captive • Emerson Hough

... refers to the tapster, it signifies to drain, to empty; as it is related to hang, it means to be conveyed to execution on a hurdle. In Froth's answer, it is the same as to bring along by some motive or power. ...
— Johnson's Notes to Shakespeare Vol. I Comedies • Samuel Johnson

... subject of great mercies God has shown her. From some of these very good doctrine may be gathered, and this, as she declares, was, besides compliance with obedience, her principal motive (in writing this book), namely to enumerate such of these mercies as would be instructive to souls. This chapter brings the history of her Life, written by herself, to an end. May it be for the glory ...
— The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus • Teresa of Avila

... close at hand, yet in its unity it seems always infinitely distant, and the difference of angle at which it is seen in India and in Minnesota is almost inappreciable. Moreover, a rooted discontent seems always to underlie all great poetry, if it be not even the motive of it. The Iliad and the Odyssey paint manners that are only here and there incidentally true to the actual, but which in their larger truth had either never existed or had long since passed away. Had Dante's scope been narrowed to contemporary ...
— The Function Of The Poet And Other Essays • James Russell Lowell

... "The motive," cried Tom, "that may be easily explained; and I doubt not but you will find, although it may at present appear a little mysterious, Sparkle will be fully able to shew cause and produce effect. He is however a man of honour and of property, and most likely we may by this time congratulate ...
— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan


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