Definition of motive in English:

motive

noun ˈməʊtɪvˈmoʊdɪv

1A reason for doing something.
police were unable to establish a motive for his murder
Example sentencesExamples
- Richardson said that detectives were keeping an open mind about the possible motive for the triple murder.
- I confess to having an inherent mistrust of the motives behind the development of GM crops and foods.
- Of course there are other possible motives for murder besides a disagreement over business matters.
- More than a month on, police are no closer to finding his killer, or establishing a motive for the murder.
- The key ethical and legal point is the intention - the motive behind the act.
- Detectives are hoping to establish the motive for the murder attempt in the coming days, and will examine the possibility that it may have been drug related.
- Either his motive alone was sufficient reason to suspect him, or it wasn't.
- Normally I am very careful before I ascribe such sinister motives to a government agency.
- When someone offers you help, must you seek out an ulterior motive behind the gesture?
- There is a difference between a reason and a motive.
- Police believe robbery was the motive for the attack.
- In addition to your total lack of evidence, you are unable even to establish a reasonable motive.
- There was little attempt to disguise the political motives behind the move.
- Detectives said yesterday that they had not yet established a motive for the double murder, but believed it might have been linked to a domestic dispute.
- Police have also been carrying out door-to-door inquiries to establish a motive for the murder.
- Mr Locke asks why people are questioning his motives, and the reason is that we have studied him.
- From this side of the Atlantic, the motives behind this action appear far more self-serving.
- He says he doesn't know what motives could be behind the leak.
- Details were released as detectives confirmed they now believe there was a sexual motive behind the girl's kidnap and murder.
- There's an ulterior motive behind everything they do.
- And we tell ourselves that it's all right, that for us it's different, that we have an excuse, a reason, a motive.
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.
Example sentencesExamples
- In its most common meaning, the term idea is used as a synonym for theme, melody, phrase or motive.
- The first movement's contours, both its main motive and its overall shape, do suggest climbing.
- The harmonic and rhythmic tension in this motive is palpable.
- For ten minutes, the bass methodically pounds the opening motive into the ground with rigor and exactitude.
- This three-note motive can subsequently be detected in almost every bar of the piece, giving it a high degree of unity.
- My other quibble is that the vigorous minor-mode motive of repeated notes isn't bowed roughly enough.
- 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.
- It's my favourite time of year and I wanted to evoke the coolness and crispness, especially in the opening motive.
- The introduction is based on a short six-note motive that is treated canonically, first in single notes and then in double notes.
- Then think about the grail motive as a background to the Bruckner Adagio.
Synonyms
motif, theme, idea, concept, subject, topic, leitmotif, trope, element

adjective ˈməʊtɪvˈmoʊdɪv

1attributive Producing physical or mechanical motion.
the charge of gas is the motive force for every piston stroke
Example sentencesExamples
- 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.
- Wind turbines, also known as wind mills, use the wind as their motive force.
- 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.
- Horses continued to provide the main motive force for commercial uses of the plateau such as grazing until the recent past.
- These flying triangles aren't ready to bear the weight of their own motive energy source.
- With the invention of the internal combustion engine, in the late 19th century, new possibilities of motive force became available.
- The motive force is supplied by sodium or hydrogen ions flowing down a concentration gradient from the outside.
- As a consequence, the question of whether the new industry should continue to use gasoline as its motive fuel arose.
Synonyms
kinetic, driving, impelling, propelling, propulsive, operative, moving, motor
2attributive Causing or being the reason for something.
the motive principle of a writer's work
Example sentencesExamples
- It is not a part of the real motive forces of the revolution.
- While putatively providing the motive force for Mundy's actions, the anger finally overreaches itself.
- The driving motive force behind any country's sense of achievement and pride in its efforts must come from a focus on entrepreneurship.
- It serves as a kind of a triggering mechanism, a motive force of military ideology.
- They sought to uncover the motive force of the class struggle - the key to the real understanding of all history.
- Feelings are important because they provide the motive force for thinking and acting.
- Rather, it's the essential motive force for a technologically vibrant economy.
- Its motive force is protection and care, but it does not give enough space to personal liberty.
- I think that's part of the motive force for this research, because of the great freedom that children express in their faith.
- Nationalist feeling was a far more powerful motive force in China than social radicalism.
- Fascists themselves claimed that ultranationalism was their motive force, and that the realization of the mobilized national community was their goal.
- Looking back now, it seems to me that nothing has changed and that it was only a matter of days before profit was re-established as the system's principal motive force.

Derivatives

motiveless

adjective ˈməʊtɪvləsˈmoʊdɪvləs

This is a motiveless, tragic murder of a young man who had everything to live for.
Example sentencesExamples
- He grabbed her by the shoulder and head-butted her in a motiveless and unprovoked attack.
- But what makes this case more difficult is that it is an apparently motiveless crime.
- 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 said: ‘This was a random and motiveless attack on a defenceless man.’

motivelessly

adverb

This man, who was essentially just on the point of making the essential breakthrough for himself, was apparently just cut off, chopped off, clipped off, as if with a pair of scissors: a life thrown away so motivelessly.
Example sentencesExamples
- She found it hard to write letters when he was walking about, sometimes watching the point of her pen, lifting a cup and putting it down again, reading a few paragraphs of the paper and dropping it listlessly, opening the cupboard door motivelessly and closing it again, lifting down books, peering behind them and letting them slip from his hands to the floor with a bang.
- I want to spend a day with Peter and Cynthia walking motivelessly in random shopping places.
- Their dog was probably abused by its previous owner, but they have to muzzle him because he is paranoid and attacks people completely motivelessly.
- To pray and to worship God motivelessly is of course good.

motivelessness

noun

He contends that the two share ‘sociopathy, delirium, motivelessness, and an utter dedication to the ugly’.
Example sentencesExamples
- Not only does the film refuse to tell us, it glories in its own ignorance - or, to put it another way, in the motivelessness of its murders.
- The premeditation before the killing, its viciousness, and its apparent motivelessness mark the serial killer as the personification of evil.
- It's not so much the actual technicolour portrayal of the wounds and injuries - to our shame, perhaps, we've seen a lot worse in nearly three decades since this film was made - but rather the nastiness of the motivation, or motivelessness, behind it, a hedonistic seeking for gratuitous thrills and infliction of pain and insult upon people who had done no wrong to the perpetrators.
- I was struck immediately by the motivelessness of publishing this picture.

motivity

noun məʊˈtɪvɪti

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.
Example sentencesExamples
- Among the gaseous fuels, this has the best motivity factor.

Origin

Late Middle English: from Old French motif (adjective used as a noun), from late Latin motivus, from movere 'to move'.

Rhymes

emotive, votive

Definition of motive in US English:

motive

nounˈmoʊdɪvˈmōdiv

1A reason for doing something, especially one that is hidden or not obvious.
a motive for his murder
Example sentencesExamples
- Detectives are hoping to establish the motive for the murder attempt in the coming days, and will examine the possibility that it may have been drug related.
- Richardson said that detectives were keeping an open mind about the possible motive for the triple murder.
- There is a difference between a reason and a motive.
- And we tell ourselves that it's all right, that for us it's different, that we have an excuse, a reason, a motive.
- Details were released as detectives confirmed they now believe there was a sexual motive behind the girl's kidnap and murder.
- I confess to having an inherent mistrust of the motives behind the development of GM crops and foods.
- There's an ulterior motive behind everything they do.
- Police have also been carrying out door-to-door inquiries to establish a motive for the murder.
- He says he doesn't know what motives could be behind the leak.
- When someone offers you help, must you seek out an ulterior motive behind the gesture?
- In addition to your total lack of evidence, you are unable even to establish a reasonable motive.
- There was little attempt to disguise the political motives behind the move.
- Mr Locke asks why people are questioning his motives, and the reason is that we have studied him.
- From this side of the Atlantic, the motives behind this action appear far more self-serving.
- Either his motive alone was sufficient reason to suspect him, or it wasn't.
- More than a month on, police are no closer to finding his killer, or establishing a motive for the murder.
- Police believe robbery was the motive for the attack.
- The key ethical and legal point is the intention - the motive behind the act.
- Of course there are other possible motives for murder besides a disagreement over business matters.
- Detectives said yesterday that they had not yet established a motive for the double murder, but believed it might have been linked to a domestic dispute.
- Normally I am very careful before I ascribe such sinister motives to a government agency.
Synonyms
reason, motivation, motivating force, rationale, grounds, cause, basis, occasion, thinking, the whys and wherefores, object, purpose, intention, design
2(in art, literature, or music) a motif.
the entire work grows organically from the opening horn motive
Example sentencesExamples
- To cultivate this process, the student should become acquainted with the motive upon which the composition is based.
- For ten minutes, the bass methodically pounds the opening motive into the ground with rigor and exactitude.
- It's my favourite time of year and I wanted to evoke the coolness and crispness, especially in the opening motive.
- This is the predominant trichord of most sets and functions as a signature motive.
- The first movement's contours, both its main motive and its overall shape, do suggest climbing.
- The harmonic and rhythmic tension in this motive is palpable.
- This three-note motive can subsequently be detected in almost every bar of the piece, giving it a high degree of unity.
- My other quibble is that the vigorous minor-mode motive of repeated notes isn't bowed roughly enough.
- Then think about the grail motive as a background to the Bruckner Adagio.
- In its most common meaning, the term idea is used as a synonym for theme, melody, phrase or motive.
- The introduction is based on a short six-note motive that is treated canonically, first in single notes and then in double notes.
Synonyms
motif, theme, idea, concept, subject, topic, leitmotif, trope, element

adjectiveˈmoʊdɪvˈmōdiv

1Producing physical or mechanical motion.
the charge of gas is the motive force for every piston stroke
Example sentencesExamples
- These flying triangles aren't ready to bear the weight of their own motive energy source.
- The motive force is supplied by sodium or hydrogen ions flowing down a concentration gradient from the outside.
- Wind turbines, also known as wind mills, use the wind as their motive force.
- As a consequence, the question of whether the new industry should continue to use gasoline as its motive fuel arose.
- With the invention of the internal combustion engine, in the late 19th century, new possibilities of motive force became available.
- Horses continued to provide the main motive force for commercial uses of the plateau such as grazing until the recent past.
- 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.
- 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
Example sentencesExamples
- It is not a part of the real motive forces of the revolution.
- It serves as a kind of a triggering mechanism, a motive force of military ideology.
- They sought to uncover the motive force of the class struggle - the key to the real understanding of all history.
- Its motive force is protection and care, but it does not give enough space to personal liberty.
- Nationalist feeling was a far more powerful motive force in China than social radicalism.
- Rather, it's the essential motive force for a technologically vibrant economy.
- Feelings are important because they provide the motive force for thinking and acting.
- The driving motive force behind any country's sense of achievement and pride in its efforts must come from a focus on entrepreneurship.
- Looking back now, it seems to me that nothing has changed and that it was only a matter of days before profit was re-established as the system's principal motive force.
- Fascists themselves claimed that ultranationalism was their motive force, and that the realization of the mobilized national community was their goal.
- I think that's part of the motive force for this research, because of the great freedom that children express in their faith.
- While putatively providing the motive force for Mundy's actions, the anger finally overreaches itself.

Origin

Late Middle English: from Old French motif (adjective used as a noun), from late Latin motivus, from movere ‘to move’.

单词	motive
释义	Definition of motive in English: motive noun ˈməʊtɪvˈmoʊdɪv 1A reason for doing something. police were unable to establish a motive for his murder Example sentencesExamples Richardson said that detectives were keeping an open mind about the possible motive for the triple murder. I confess to having an inherent mistrust of the motives behind the development of GM crops and foods. Of course there are other possible motives for murder besides a disagreement over business matters. More than a month on, police are no closer to finding his killer, or establishing a motive for the murder. The key ethical and legal point is the intention - the motive behind the act. Detectives are hoping to establish the motive for the murder attempt in the coming days, and will examine the possibility that it may have been drug related. Either his motive alone was sufficient reason to suspect him, or it wasn't. Normally I am very careful before I ascribe such sinister motives to a government agency. When someone offers you help, must you seek out an ulterior motive behind the gesture? There is a difference between a reason and a motive. Police believe robbery was the motive for the attack. In addition to your total lack of evidence, you are unable even to establish a reasonable motive. There was little attempt to disguise the political motives behind the move. Detectives said yesterday that they had not yet established a motive for the double murder, but believed it might have been linked to a domestic dispute. Police have also been carrying out door-to-door inquiries to establish a motive for the murder. Mr Locke asks why people are questioning his motives, and the reason is that we have studied him. From this side of the Atlantic, the motives behind this action appear far more self-serving. He says he doesn't know what motives could be behind the leak. Details were released as detectives confirmed they now believe there was a sexual motive behind the girl's kidnap and murder. There's an ulterior motive behind everything they do. And we tell ourselves that it's all right, that for us it's different, that we have an excuse, a reason, a motive. 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. Example sentencesExamples In its most common meaning, the term idea is used as a synonym for theme, melody, phrase or motive. The first movement's contours, both its main motive and its overall shape, do suggest climbing. The harmonic and rhythmic tension in this motive is palpable. For ten minutes, the bass methodically pounds the opening motive into the ground with rigor and exactitude. This three-note motive can subsequently be detected in almost every bar of the piece, giving it a high degree of unity. My other quibble is that the vigorous minor-mode motive of repeated notes isn't bowed roughly enough. 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. It's my favourite time of year and I wanted to evoke the coolness and crispness, especially in the opening motive. The introduction is based on a short six-note motive that is treated canonically, first in single notes and then in double notes. Then think about the grail motive as a background to the Bruckner Adagio. Synonyms motif, theme, idea, concept, subject, topic, leitmotif, trope, element adjective ˈməʊtɪvˈmoʊdɪv 1attributive Producing physical or mechanical motion. the charge of gas is the motive force for every piston stroke Example sentencesExamples 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. Wind turbines, also known as wind mills, use the wind as their motive force. 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. Horses continued to provide the main motive force for commercial uses of the plateau such as grazing until the recent past. These flying triangles aren't ready to bear the weight of their own motive energy source. With the invention of the internal combustion engine, in the late 19th century, new possibilities of motive force became available. The motive force is supplied by sodium or hydrogen ions flowing down a concentration gradient from the outside. As a consequence, the question of whether the new industry should continue to use gasoline as its motive fuel arose. Synonyms kinetic, driving, impelling, propelling, propulsive, operative, moving, motor 2attributive Causing or being the reason for something. the motive principle of a writer's work Example sentencesExamples It is not a part of the real motive forces of the revolution. While putatively providing the motive force for Mundy's actions, the anger finally overreaches itself. The driving motive force behind any country's sense of achievement and pride in its efforts must come from a focus on entrepreneurship. It serves as a kind of a triggering mechanism, a motive force of military ideology. They sought to uncover the motive force of the class struggle - the key to the real understanding of all history. Feelings are important because they provide the motive force for thinking and acting. Rather, it's the essential motive force for a technologically vibrant economy. Its motive force is protection and care, but it does not give enough space to personal liberty. I think that's part of the motive force for this research, because of the great freedom that children express in their faith. Nationalist feeling was a far more powerful motive force in China than social radicalism. Fascists themselves claimed that ultranationalism was their motive force, and that the realization of the mobilized national community was their goal. Looking back now, it seems to me that nothing has changed and that it was only a matter of days before profit was re-established as the system's principal motive force. Derivatives motiveless adjective ˈməʊtɪvləsˈmoʊdɪvləs This is a motiveless, tragic murder of a young man who had everything to live for. Example sentencesExamples He grabbed her by the shoulder and head-butted her in a motiveless and unprovoked attack. But what makes this case more difficult is that it is an apparently motiveless crime. 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 said: ‘This was a random and motiveless attack on a defenceless man.’ motivelessly adverb This man, who was essentially just on the point of making the essential breakthrough for himself, was apparently just cut off, chopped off, clipped off, as if with a pair of scissors: a life thrown away so motivelessly. Example sentencesExamples She found it hard to write letters when he was walking about, sometimes watching the point of her pen, lifting a cup and putting it down again, reading a few paragraphs of the paper and dropping it listlessly, opening the cupboard door motivelessly and closing it again, lifting down books, peering behind them and letting them slip from his hands to the floor with a bang. I want to spend a day with Peter and Cynthia walking motivelessly in random shopping places. Their dog was probably abused by its previous owner, but they have to muzzle him because he is paranoid and attacks people completely motivelessly. To pray and to worship God motivelessly is of course good. motivelessness noun He contends that the two share ‘sociopathy, delirium, motivelessness, and an utter dedication to the ugly’. Example sentencesExamples Not only does the film refuse to tell us, it glories in its own ignorance - or, to put it another way, in the motivelessness of its murders. The premeditation before the killing, its viciousness, and its apparent motivelessness mark the serial killer as the personification of evil. It's not so much the actual technicolour portrayal of the wounds and injuries - to our shame, perhaps, we've seen a lot worse in nearly three decades since this film was made - but rather the nastiness of the motivation, or motivelessness, behind it, a hedonistic seeking for gratuitous thrills and infliction of pain and insult upon people who had done no wrong to the perpetrators. I was struck immediately by the motivelessness of publishing this picture. motivity noun məʊˈtɪvɪti 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. Example sentencesExamples Among the gaseous fuels, this has the best motivity factor. Origin Late Middle English: from Old French motif (adjective used as a noun), from late Latin motivus, from movere 'to move'. Rhymes emotive, votive Definition of motive in US English: motive nounˈmoʊdɪvˈmōdiv 1A reason for doing something, especially one that is hidden or not obvious. a motive for his murder Example sentencesExamples Detectives are hoping to establish the motive for the murder attempt in the coming days, and will examine the possibility that it may have been drug related. Richardson said that detectives were keeping an open mind about the possible motive for the triple murder. There is a difference between a reason and a motive. And we tell ourselves that it's all right, that for us it's different, that we have an excuse, a reason, a motive. Details were released as detectives confirmed they now believe there was a sexual motive behind the girl's kidnap and murder. I confess to having an inherent mistrust of the motives behind the development of GM crops and foods. There's an ulterior motive behind everything they do. Police have also been carrying out door-to-door inquiries to establish a motive for the murder. He says he doesn't know what motives could be behind the leak. When someone offers you help, must you seek out an ulterior motive behind the gesture? In addition to your total lack of evidence, you are unable even to establish a reasonable motive. There was little attempt to disguise the political motives behind the move. Mr Locke asks why people are questioning his motives, and the reason is that we have studied him. From this side of the Atlantic, the motives behind this action appear far more self-serving. Either his motive alone was sufficient reason to suspect him, or it wasn't. More than a month on, police are no closer to finding his killer, or establishing a motive for the murder. Police believe robbery was the motive for the attack. The key ethical and legal point is the intention - the motive behind the act. Of course there are other possible motives for murder besides a disagreement over business matters. Detectives said yesterday that they had not yet established a motive for the double murder, but believed it might have been linked to a domestic dispute. Normally I am very careful before I ascribe such sinister motives to a government agency. Synonyms reason, motivation, motivating force, rationale, grounds, cause, basis, occasion, thinking, the whys and wherefores, object, purpose, intention, design 2(in art, literature, or music) a motif. the entire work grows organically from the opening horn motive Example sentencesExamples To cultivate this process, the student should become acquainted with the motive upon which the composition is based. For ten minutes, the bass methodically pounds the opening motive into the ground with rigor and exactitude. It's my favourite time of year and I wanted to evoke the coolness and crispness, especially in the opening motive. This is the predominant trichord of most sets and functions as a signature motive. The first movement's contours, both its main motive and its overall shape, do suggest climbing. The harmonic and rhythmic tension in this motive is palpable. This three-note motive can subsequently be detected in almost every bar of the piece, giving it a high degree of unity. My other quibble is that the vigorous minor-mode motive of repeated notes isn't bowed roughly enough. Then think about the grail motive as a background to the Bruckner Adagio. In its most common meaning, the term idea is used as a synonym for theme, melody, phrase or motive. The introduction is based on a short six-note motive that is treated canonically, first in single notes and then in double notes. Synonyms motif, theme, idea, concept, subject, topic, leitmotif, trope, element adjectiveˈmoʊdɪvˈmōdiv 1Producing physical or mechanical motion. the charge of gas is the motive force for every piston stroke Example sentencesExamples These flying triangles aren't ready to bear the weight of their own motive energy source. The motive force is supplied by sodium or hydrogen ions flowing down a concentration gradient from the outside. Wind turbines, also known as wind mills, use the wind as their motive force. As a consequence, the question of whether the new industry should continue to use gasoline as its motive fuel arose. With the invention of the internal combustion engine, in the late 19th century, new possibilities of motive force became available. Horses continued to provide the main motive force for commercial uses of the plateau such as grazing until the recent past. 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. 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 Example sentencesExamples It is not a part of the real motive forces of the revolution. It serves as a kind of a triggering mechanism, a motive force of military ideology. They sought to uncover the motive force of the class struggle - the key to the real understanding of all history. Its motive force is protection and care, but it does not give enough space to personal liberty. Nationalist feeling was a far more powerful motive force in China than social radicalism. Rather, it's the essential motive force for a technologically vibrant economy. Feelings are important because they provide the motive force for thinking and acting. The driving motive force behind any country's sense of achievement and pride in its efforts must come from a focus on entrepreneurship. Looking back now, it seems to me that nothing has changed and that it was only a matter of days before profit was re-established as the system's principal motive force. Fascists themselves claimed that ultranationalism was their motive force, and that the realization of the mobilized national community was their goal. I think that's part of the motive force for this research, because of the great freedom that children express in their faith. While putatively providing the motive force for Mundy's actions, the anger finally overreaches itself. Origin Late Middle English: from Old French motif (adjective used as a noun), from late Latin motivus, from movere ‘to move’.
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