Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The act or process of motivating.
- n. The state of being motivated.
- n. Something that motivates; an inducement or incentive.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act or manner of motivating; the act or process of furnishing with an incentive or inducement to action.
Wiktionary
- n. Willingness of action especially in behavior
- n. The action of motivating.
- n. Something which motivates.
- n. An incentive or reason for doing something.
- n. advertising a research rating that measures how the rational and emotional elements of a commercial affect consumer intention to consider, visit, or buy something.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act or process of motivating.
- n. The mental process that arouses an organism to action.
- n. The goal or mental image of a goal that creates a motivation{2}.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the condition of being motivated
- n. the act of motivating; providing incentive
- 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
Etymologies
- motive, from the Latin verb moveō ("(I) move"), + -ation (Wiktionary)
Examples
“My main motivation is to learn the language of my husband so I can speak into his heart in his own language (we usually speak to each other in our second language – English - and it can be frustrating sometimes because of the misunderstandings) and since we are planning to start a family soon, we want our children to be trilingual too.”
“I'm still unsure about this one; it could turn out really cool, or an absolute disaster ... my main motivation is that i don't wanna spend money on a haircut. decisions, decisions purchase any of the following: Kindle, iPod Touch, or MacBook”
“Their main motivation is self-protection, second target shooting.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Changes in the Gun Culture over the last 25 years
“Alsop explained: "For me, the main motivation is to get beyond the image of Beethoven as this disembodied bust, to give people insight into this man who lives upstairs or next door, who writes this incredible music, but is such a tortured soul.”
“I think an honest observer has to conclude the Brights's main motivation is their fear and loathing of the idea of a personal God, especially the one of Judeo-Christian vintage.”
“Their main motivation is fear, so the certainty of getting their butt kicked is a strong motivator to behave.”
Think Progress » Frist and Torture: What Did He Know and When Did He Know It?
“His main motivation is to be a great teammate and to win.”
“While she mostly works with high school students who are motivated by grades, my motivation is to be able to talk to the plumber, roofer, and my neighbors.”
“Also, Clint and Morgan begin their journey in the film as the result of a prostitute's being cut up, and their motivation is at least somewhat informed by a sense of righting the wrong done to her ... a sense of compassion.”
“The funny thing is, his motivation is absolutely no different than any other politician.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘motivation’.
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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The Last Werewolf
This novel by Glen Duncan, aside from being a ripping yarn and beautifully written, is just littered with words that I had to look up and discover that often his use of the word not only fitted per...
gurns, bok, chimney breast, dichotomy, Platonic form, filthy, Platonic Form, mathematics, BAM, skirls, clarity, blundering and 298 more...
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ESL Academic Word List
This is a list of academic words for students learning English as a Second or Foreign Language. It includes 570 word families that often appear in academic texts. It does not include words that are...
collapse, depression, colleagues, invoked, levy, nonetheless, likewise, so-called, ongoing, conceived, forthcoming, integrity and 558 more...
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Rilakkuma's list
The Velvetine Ruffians
gamine, waif, ruffian, villain, rake, libertine, velvetine, luminary, nom de plume, street urchin, epicurean, eventide and 256 more...
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Noesis
Mind or Mind Altering
example: psychotomimetic
( _mark, personal list, randomness )
related:
noetic, entheogen, psychonautics, infinite, bewilderment, mystification, stupefication, enhanced, altered, perception, simulation, network and 212 more... -
phrases (lateral thinking)
notes from the book Lateral Thinking, as well as elsewhere.
Purely horizontal thinking is known as daydreaming. Fantasy. Mysticism. The purely horizontal thinker has a thousand idea...changing ideas, inside rearrangement, insight, creativi..., self organizing, patterning system, restructuring pat..., escape from restr..., intangible mystiq..., aesthetic sensibi..., emotional resonance, lateral thinking, new ideas and 41 more...
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waterfront words
themes and values
heroism, love, power, brotherhood, niave, entrapment, alienation, immorality, conscience, remorse, loyalty, confusion and 25 more...
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designing learning
all things learning design
outcomes, engagement, conversation, social, community, networks, knowledge, technology, instruction, practice, review, motivation and 22 more...
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Math Education Research Words
Words you may encounter in the area of mathematics education research.
agency, affect, conceptual, procedural, constructivism, participation, motivation, engagement, mathematize, technology, model, theory and 9 more...
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traits (good)
good, virtuous traits that are common in human behaviour.
goto traits (neutral)
goto traits (bad)
( randomness, descriptive, psychology, virtue, mindset, perspective...bibliophilism, energetic, scientific, trustworthy, integrity, empathy, kindness, generosity, compassion, knowledgeable, sincerity, foresight and 81 more...
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Hateful words
empower, work, woot, motivation, i'm not racist, b..., going forward, sustainable devel..., staycation, quantitative easing, people person
Tweets
Looking for tweets for motivation.

Louises See mortality Mar 25, 2012