motive

noun

1. (obsolete)An idea or communication that makes one want to act, especially from spiritual sources; a divine prompting.

   “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.

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

   ““Your job here is to find the good things in your colleagues—the things their state saw—and not focus on the bad.” I said I understand. “And, Joe, never attack another man’s motive, because you don’t know his motive.””

3. (obsolete, rare)A limb or other bodily organ that can move.

   “every joint and motive of her body”

4. Something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour.

   “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.”

   ““Why should Eldridge commit murder?[…]There was only one possible motive—namely, he wished to avoid detection as James Selby of Anaconda Ltd. […]””

5. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of motif.

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

6. (British)A party, gathering, or get-together.
7. (British)One's plans for the day or night.

   “What's the motive for tonight, lads?”

verb

1. (transitive)To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move.

adj

1. (not-comparable)Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move

   “a motive argument”

   “motive power”

   “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. (not-comparable)Relating to motion and/or to its cause

   “Debussy's melody is fractional, fragmentary. But at the core all his music is melodic and melody is its main motive force.”