Synonym: basis, cause, ground, motivation, prompting, reason. Similar words: motivate, motion, promotion, give notice, active, native, incentive, relative. Meaning: ['məʊtɪv] 
n. 1. 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 2. a theme that is elaborated on in a piece of music. adj. 1. causing or able to cause motion 2. impelling to action.
n. 1. 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 2. a theme that is elaborated on in a piece of music. adj. 1. causing or able to cause motion 2. impelling to action. 
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91. Actually, he invited me out tonight, probably with an ulterior motive.
92. The predominant motive for writing this type of history is to demonstrate chronological sequence.
93. Motive power was initially provided by the contractors: An 0-6-0 saddle tank, Fleetwood.
94. What is the motive of the people making this documentary?
95. The presence of a particular motive can only be inferred by working backwards from the behaviour itself.
96. The motive for the robbery was greed, pure and simple.
97. There appears to be no rational motive for the attack.
98. Rural Metro is driven by the profit motive(Sentence dictionary), a particularly powerful incentive in an employee-owned company.
99. Mr Donovan's motive had been to clear his name, not to close the magazine.
100. What possible motive could this round, friendly, most amiable of men have for murder?
101. And, of course, the motive power is inevitably steam but not, alas, genuine West Riding motive power.
102. Police and juvenile probation officials say they still have no motive for the attack.
103. Unless, that is, his motive was to supply the infantry with sprigs of mistletoe to give to their sweethearts at Christmas.
104. No ulterior motive lurks behind it, but it keeps you at a distance.
105. There one came to terms with obscurity, with low tones, one did not demand full clarity of mind or motive.
106. But whatever the motive, international business is at least waking up to the fact that a social conscience can be good for business.
107. The precautionary motive. Unforeseen circumstances can arise, such as a car breakdown.
108. This was frequently denounced by critics of the democracy on the grounds that it introduced a pecuniary motive.
109. Detectives puzzling over a motive say the girls were not sexually assaulted.
110. A political motive was clearly bound up with this economic activity.
111. In many ways, she would prefer not to know the identity or motive of her captors.
112. Also, he was not going to accept it, he was going to look for a real motive for this murder.
113. During its visit 2857 has provided the primary motive power on the railway.
114. Thus the political message of local elections provides another motive for ministers to deny their importance.
115. The profit motive is at the core of the capitalist system.
116. The motive behind this action is usually to reduce the chances of a police check of two on a motor bicycle.
117. Spurred by the profit motive, the shops tackled problems with a vengeance.
118. Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind. Eric Hoffer 
119. Police are investigating but said they had no clue as to the motive.
120. The fire, which caused damage valued at about ￡2,500, had been started deliberately but the motive was still not clear.
More similar words: motivate, motion, promotion, give notice, active, native, incentive, relative, actively, narrative, objective, sensitive, deceptive, detective, executive, cognitive, supportive, cooperative, innovative, diminutive, collective, productive, distinctive, attractive, protective, perspective, relatively, initiative, effectively, alternative.