motive
motives
Your reason for doing something is your motive. Your motive to go to school every day is to learn. Or maybe the thought of your parents' anger and a run-in with the truant officer is motive enough.
The word motive comes from the Latin words motivus, meaning moving, and movere, meaning to move. Think of motive as the thing that moves you to act. You often hear of motive in the context of crime––a suspect’s fingerprints may be on the murder weapon, but a detective won’t understand the crime until he understands the motive. What made the killer act?
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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“he acted with the best of motives”
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synonyms:
motivation, need
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types:
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life
a motive for living
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rational motive
a motive that can be defended by reasoning or logical argument
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irrational motive
a motivation that is inconsistent with reason or logic
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impulse, urge
an instinctive motive
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ethical motive, ethics, morality, morals
motivation based on ideas of right and wrong
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mental energy, psychic energy
an actuating force or factor
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ground, reason
a rational motive for a belief or action
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incentive, inducement, motivator
a positive motivational influence
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deterrence, disincentive
a negative motivational influence
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abience
(psychology) an urge to withdraw or avoid a situation or an object
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adience
(psychology) an urge to accept or approach a situation or an object
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Thanatos, death instinct, death wish
(psychoanalysis) an unconscious urge to die
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irrational impulse
a strong spontaneous and irrational motivation
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cacoethes, mania, passion
an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action
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itchy feet, wanderlust
very strong or irresistible impulse to travel
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compulsion, obsession
an irrational motive for performing trivial or repetitive actions, even against your will
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hedonism
the pursuit of pleasure as a matter of ethical principle
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conscience, moral sense, scruples, sense of right and wrong
motivation deriving logically from ethical or moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions
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Christ Within, Inner Light, Light, Light Within
a divine presence believed by Quakers to enlighten and guide the soul
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incitation, incitement, provocation
something that incites or provokes; a means of arousing or stirring to action
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libidinal energy
(psychoanalysis) psychic energy produced by the libido
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type of:
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psychological feature
a feature of the mental life of a living organism
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causing or able to cause motion
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impelling to action
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a theme that is repeated or elaborated in a piece of music
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synonyms:
motif
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type of:
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idea, melodic theme, musical theme, theme
(music) melodic subject of a musical composition
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idea, melodic theme, musical theme, theme
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a design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration
Vocabulary lists containing motive
In a world-class, eight-decade-long acting career, the Irish-British and American actress/singer – Dame Angela Lansbury – played various roles across stage, film, and television. Described as the "First Lady of Musical Theatre" in the 1960s and "acting aristocracy" in Britain, Ireland, and the U.S., she received six Tony Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award), six Golden Globe Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, and the Academy Honorary Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, eighteen Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award, and a 2014 British Dame honor. Although best known for her 12-season TV role as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, this tribute list highlights her broad-reaching legacy through film quotes, television quotes, and articles.
Vocabulary is key to performing well on Common Core-aligned tests for English Language Arts as well as for building literacy in social studies, science, and technical subjects. This collection features common tier-2 words that are taught and tested in Grades 9 and 10. These words are used in a variety of contexts, exhibit different shades of meaning based on those contexts, and appear commonly in classroom instruction and on standardized assessments. Here are links to our lists for the collection: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5, List 6, List 7, List 8
Told in the form of journal entries and a screenplay, this novel tells the story of a teenager on trial for murder.
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