motive : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: motive	by the DICT Development Group
4 results for motive
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
motive adj causing or able to cause motion; "a motive force"; "motive power"; "motor energy" Synonym(s): motive(a), motor impelling to action; "it may well be that ethical language has primarily a motivative function"- Arthur Pap; "motive pleas"; "motivating arguments" Synonym(s): motivative(a), motive(a), motivating n 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; "we did not understand his motivation"; "he acted with the best of motives" Synonym(s): motivation, motive, need a theme that is repeated or elaborated in a piece of music Synonym(s): motif, motive a design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration Synonym(s): motif, motive
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Motive \Mo"tive\, a. Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move; as, a motive argument; motive power. [bd]Motive faculty.[b8] --Bp. Wilkins. {Motive power} (Mach.), a natural agent, as water, steam, wind, electricity, etc., used to impart motion to machinery; a motor; a mover.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Motive \Mo"tive\, n. [F. motif, LL. motivum, from motivus moving, fr. L. movere, motum, to move. See {Move}.] 1. That which moves; a mover. [Obs.] --Shak. 2. That which incites to action; anything prompting or exciting to choise, or moving the will; cause; reason; inducement; object. By motive, I mean the whole of that which moves, excites, or invites the mind to volition, whether that be one thing singly, or many things conjunctively. --J. Edwards. 3. (Mus.) The theme or subject; a leading phrase or passage which is reproduced and varied through the course of a comor a movement; a short figure, or melodic germ, out of which a whole movement is develpoed. See also Leading motive, under {Leading}. [Written also {motivo}.] 4. (Fine Arts) That which produces conception, invention, or creation in the mind of the artist in undertaking his subject; the guiding or controlling idea manifested in a work of art, or any part of one. Syn: Incentive; incitement; inducement; reason; spur; stimulus; cause. Usage: {Motive}, {Inducement}, {Reason}. Motive is the word originally used in speaking of that which determines the choice. We call it an inducement when it is attractive in its nature. We call it a reason when it is more immediately addressed to the intellect in the form of argument.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Motive \Mo"tive\, v. t. To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move.