motivate

verb
/ˈməʊ.tɪ.veɪt/UK/ˈmoʊ.tɪ.veɪt/US

Etymology

Etymology tree Anglo-Norman motifder. Middle French motifder. Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh₁-der. Proto-Italic *moweō Late Latin moveō Late Latin mōtus Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Late Latin -īvus Late Latin mōtīvumder. Middle English motif English motive Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātuslbor. English -ate English motivate From motive + -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French motiver.

  1. derived from motiver
  2. derived from motifder
  3. derived from motifder

Definitions

  1. To provide someone with an incentive to do something

    To provide someone with an incentive to do something; to encourage; to actuate.

    • The weekly staff meeting was meant to motivate employees.
  2. To animate

    To animate; to propel; to cause to take action.

    • He was motivated purely by self-interest.
    • Steam-motivated pumps are used in manufacturing.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at motivate. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01motivate02animate03possessing04possess05supernatural06born07birth08offspring09further10encourage

A definitional loop anchored at motivate. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at motivate

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA