Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Motive |
MotiveAdjective1. Causing or able to cause motion; "a motive force"; "motive power"; "motor energy". 2. Impelling to action; "it may well be that ethical language has primarily a motivative function"- Arthur Pap; "motive pleas"; "motivating arguments". Noun1. The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action; the reason for the action; "we did not understand his motivation"; "he acted with the best of motives". 2. A theme that is elaborated on in a piece of music. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "motive" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Business | As the most compelling inner determinants of human behavior, -- are also called drives, urges, impulses, needs, wants, tensions, and willful cravings. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In the literary sense, motive describes the situations that fictional characters find themselves in, that impel them to move and act the way they do. Motive is particularly important to the devotees of method acting, in which the actors seek to identify psychologically with the characters they portray in order to make the characters' emotional state their own.
In law, especially criminal law, motive describes the cause that moves people and induce a certain action. Motive in itself is seldom an element of any given crime; however, the legal system typically allows motive to be proven in order to make plausible the accused's reasons for committing a crime, at least when those motives may be obscure or hard to identify with.
The law technically distinguishes between motive and intent. "Intent" in criminal law is synonymous with mens rea, which means no more than the specific mental purpose to perform a deed that is forbidden by a criminal statute, or the reckless disregard of whether the law will be violated. "Motive" describes instead the reasons in the accused's background and station in life that are supposed to have induced the crime.
Motive is particularly important in prosecutions for homicide. First, murder is so drastic a crime that most people recoil from the thought of being able to do it; proof of motive explains why the accused did so desperate an act.
Moreover, most common law jurisdictions have statutes that provide for degrees of homicide, based in part on the accused's mental state. The lesser offence of voluntary manslaughter, for example, traditionally required that the accused knowingly and voluntarily kill the victim (as in murder); in addition, it must be shown that the killing took place in the "sudden heat of passion," an excess of rage or anger coming from a contemporary provocation, which clouded the accused mind. Homicides motivated by such factors are a lesser offense than murder "in cold blood."
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Motive."
Synonyms: MotiveSynonyms: motivating (adj), motivative(a) (adj), motive(a) (adj), motor (adj), motif (n), motivation (n), need (n). (additional references) |
| Synonym by domain: drive-in (business, medicine). |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Absence of Motive | Verb: have no motive; scruple; (be unwilling). |
Noun: absence of motive, aimlessness; caprice; chance; (absence of design). | |
Dissuasion | Noun: pretext, pretense, pretension, plea; allegation, advocation; ostensible motive, ostensible ground, ostensible reason, phony reason; excuse; (vindication); subterfuge; color; gloss, guise, cover. |
Intention | Decision, determination, resolve; fixed set purpose, settled purpose; ultimatum; resolution; wish; arriere pensee; motive. |
Motion | Restlessness; (changeableness); mobility; movableness, motive power; laws of motion; mobilization. |
Adjective: moving; Verb: in motion; transitional; motory, motive; shifting, movable, mobile, mercurial, unquiet; restless; (changeable); nomadic; erratic. | |
Motive | Reason, ground, call, principle; by end, by purpose; mainspring, primum mobile, keystone; the why and the wherefore; pro and con, reason why; secret motive, arriere pensee; intention. |
Noun: motive, springs of action, wellsprings of action. | |
Adverb: because, therefore; (cause); from this motive, from that motive; for this reason, for that reason; for; by reason of, for the sake of, count of; out of, from, as, forasmuch as. | |
Adjective: impulsive, motive; suasive, suasory, persuasive, persuasory, hortative, hortatory; protreptical; inviting, tempting; Verb: suasive, suasory; seductive, attractive; fascinating; (pleasing); provocative; (exciting). | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | It's a motive with a universal adaptor on it. (The Way of the Gun; writing credit: Christopher McQuarrie) You find the motive, you find the murderer. (Woh Kaun Thi; writing credit: Dhruva Chatterjee) I got the motive which is money and the body which is dead. (In the Heat of the Night; writing credit: John Ball; Stirling Silliphant) You are forgetting the most important fact: motive. (A Shot in the Dark; writing credit: Marcel Achard; William Peter Blatty) Now, on the matter of motive, we ask you: Why did you conceive, plan and execute this dastardly and scandalous crime? (The First Great Train Robbery; writing credit: Michael Crichton) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Motive vallesh popullore (1963) 'Loco' Motive (1927) A Mercenary Motive (1925) Masked Motive (1914) Without Motive (2000) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | I feared that her real motive for coming conscious or unconscious, was to see Julian again. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Defense motive in advertising. Elmira, New York. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Ludwig Baumann, business in Newark, New Jersey. Circular motive. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Claude A. HelvTtius | Every man without passion has within him no principle of action, nor motive of act. |
Duc de La Rochefoucauld | However brilliant an action it should not be esteemed great unless the result of a great motive. |
Francois De La Rochefoucauld | How ever a brilliant an action, it should not be viewed as great unless it is the result of a great motive. |
George Eliot | What makes life dreary is the want of a motive. |
Jean De La BruyFre | It's motive alone which gives character to the actions of men. |
Lord Byron | To withdraw myself from myself has ever been my sole, my entire, my sincere motive in scribbling at all. |
Miguel De Cervantes | When the severity of the law is to be softened, let pity, not bribes, be the motive. |
Samuel Taylor Coleridge | No one does anything from a single motive. |
St. Thomas Aquinas | For a war to be just three conditions are necessary -- public authority, just cause, right motive. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | In Article 297 and this Annex the expression "exceptional war measures" includes measures of all kinds, legislative administrative, judicial or others, that have been taken or will be taken hereafter with regard to enemy property, and which have had or will have the effect of removing from the proprietors the power of disposition over their property, though without affecting the ownership, such as measures of supervision, of compulsory administration, and of sequestration; or measures which have had or will have as an object the seizure of, the use of, or the interference with enemy assets, for whatsoever motive, under whatsoever form or in whatsoever place. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The prosaic motive detracted nothing from the bravery of the action. |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | She looked for motive on his face, and found nothing but friendliness. |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | Let me deal so candidly with the reader as to confess that there was yet a much stronger motive for the freedom I took in my representation of things. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Foreign policy goals are often at least as important as the profit motive when considering foreign activity in this area. A variety of institutions from Australia, the UK, France, Belgium and Canada are engaged in foreign language training, overseas study and in-country study programs. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Pakistan | The motive for these attacks remained unknown at year's end. (references) |
Ukraine | Breus was shot to death in front of his home; the motive for the killing was unclear. (references) | |
Mexico | The authorities dismissed robbery as a motive because the victim was found with his wallet and camera. (references) | |
Human Rights | Kyrgyz Republic | There was no apparent motive for the attack. (references) |
Georgia | Some observers believed that the kidnaping had a political motive. (references) | |
Somalia | The militiamen, whose motive was unknown, took the vehicle with the dead bodies still inside. (references) | |
Indigenous People | Bangladesh | After their safe and peaceful release on March 17, one of the hostages told a newspaper reporter that one of his abductors had confided that the motive was not political but rather, they wanted money "for the welfare of Chakma people." On June 23, a Bengali truck driver in Khagrachhari District in the Chittagong Hill Tracts was murdered. (references) |
Minorities | Czech Republic | The attackers escaped and police were investigating the incident as a misdemeanor pending some evidence of racist motive. (references) |
Tajikistan | The students confessed to the bombing and said that their motive was religious; however, they were not known to have any ties with extremist groups. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | TIGHTS, n. An habiliment of the stage designed to reinforce the general acclamation of the press agent with a particular publicity. Public attention was once somewhat diverted from this garment to Miss Lillian Russell's refusal to wear it, and many were the conjectures as to her motive, the guess of Miss Pauline Hall showing a high order of ingenuity and sustained reflection. It was Miss Hall's belief that nature had not endowed Miss Russell with beautiful legs. This theory was impossible of acceptance by the male understanding, but the conception of a faulty female leg was of so prodigious originality as to rank among the most brilliant feats of philosophical speculation! It is strange that in all the controversy regarding Miss Russell's aversion to tights no one seems to have thought to ascribe it to what was known among the ancients as "modesty." The nature of that sentiment is now imperfectly understood, and possibly incapable of exposition with the vocabulary that remains to us. The study of lost arts has, however, been recently revived and some of the arts themselves recovered. This is an epoch of renaissances, and there is ground for hope that the primitive "blush" may be dragged from its hiding-place amongst the tombs of antiquity and hissed on to the stage. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
George Washington | 1789-1797 | Posterity may have cause to regret if from any motive intervals of tranquility are left unimproved for accelerating this valuable end. |
Thomas Jefferson | 1801-1809 | But I may say with truth my errors have been of the understanding, not of intention, and that the advancement of their rights and interests has been the constant motive for every measure. |
James Madison | 1809-1817 | To superadd a fresh motive to emigration by revoking the liberty which they now enjoy, would be the same species of folly which has dishonored and depopulated flourishing kingdoms. |
James Monroe | 1817-1825 | The difficulty of sustaining the regulations of our commerce and of other important interests from abuse without such designation furnishes a strong motive for this measure. |
John Quincy Adams | 1825-1829 | An additional motive for keeping a respectable force stationed there at this time is found in the maritime war raging between the Greeks and the Turks, and in which the neutral navigation of this Union is always in danger of outrage and depredation. |
William H. Taft | 1909-1913 | In the mailing of a tariff bill the prime motive is taxation and the securing thereby of a revenue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Motive" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.90% of the time. "Motive" is used about 1,042 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.9% | 1,041 | 7,145 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.1% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,042 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "motive": buying motive ♦ ethical motive ♦ have no motive ♦ irrational motive ♦ leading motive ♦ motive agent ♦ motive energy ♦ motive power ♦ motive power unit ♦ rational motive ♦ secret motive ♦ ulterior motive. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "motive": motive-hunting, motive-power. | |
Ending with "motive": profit-motive. | |
Containing "motive": electro-motive force, Proton-Motive Force. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "motive"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaans | aanleiding (inducement, occasion). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | arsye (account, argument, cause, consideration, justice, justification, matter, motivation, nous, occasion, place, plea, reason, sense, spring, why). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | محرك (engine, incentive, motor, moving), قصد (aim, design, end, go to, goal, have in mind, intend, intent, intention, mean, object, purpose, repair to, sake, seek), حافز (impulse, incentive, motivation, push, reaction, stimulant), حث (actuate, admonish, debriefing, dub, encourage, encouragement, goad, gun, hurry, impel, incitation, incite, induce, induce to speak, inducement, interest, motivate, motivation, persuade, precipitate, press, prod, prompt, prompting, propel, provocation, provoke, push on, recommend, rouse, solicit, solicitation, spur, stimulate, stimulation, stir, tempt), حرض (abet, egg on, flesh, foment, incite, instigate, provoke, rouse, set, spark, stir, suborn), تقوية (consolidation, encouragement, enforcement, intensification, reinforcement, strengthening), سبب (account, beget, breed, bring about, cause, give rise to, ground, inspire, motif, occasion, procure, purpose, ratio, reason, rise, score, source, wherefore, why), السبب, الدافع (impeller, incitement, propulsion), دافع (advocate, apologize, assert, buckler, champion, cushion, defend, guard, guard against, hold off, impetus, impulse, impulsive, inducement, object, payer, projectile, propellant, propeller, propulsive, repulsive, score, stand for, stick up for, urge, vindicate), باعث (impulse, incentive, inducement, reason, stimulus). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | тема (area, argument, chapter, message, motif, subject, subject matter, text, theme, topic), мотивирам (motivate), мотив (figure, grounds, inducement, motif, pattern, spring, subject, tune), повод (cause, ground, halter, handle, occasion, peg, reason, rein, room, signal, subject), подбуда (impulse, incentive, inducement, inspiration, motion, persuasive, prod, prompting, sanction, spring, spur, stimulus), двигателен (driving, locomotive, locomotor, motional, motor, propellant, propellent, propelling, propulsive), движещ (driving, impulsive). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Catalan | lloc (inducement, occasion). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | "心 (attentively, diligently, intention), 动机, 動機 (intention, motivation). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | motiv (grounds, motif), pohnutka (cause, inducement), nhací, hybný. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | bevæggrund (account, reason). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | aanleiding (inducement, occasion). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | motivo (reason), instiga okazaĵo (inducement, occasion), instiga kaŭzo (inducement, occasion). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | orsøk (account, cause, reason), grund (account, ground, reason, soil). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | محرک (Irritant, Propellant, Provocative, Stimulant, Stimulus), سبب (Account, Cause, Causer, Reason), علت (Cause, Disease, Reason, Trill), انگیزه (Cause, Goad, Impetus, Incentive, Inducement, Mover, Propellant, Stimulant, Stimulus), انگیختن (Fire, Inanimate, Incite, Occasion, Stimulate, Urge), داعی . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | vaikutin (account, reason). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | motif (motif, motivation), occasion, lieu. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frisian | motyf (account, reason), oanlieding (inducement, occasion). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Motiv (account, grounds, motif, reason, subject), Beweggrund (account, inducement, motivation, reason). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | κίνητρο (incentive, motivation, stimulus), μοτίβο (motif). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hawaiian | arsye (account, reason). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מ יע (cause, impulse, motivation, motor, spur, stimulus), ת ע (momentum). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | ok (begetter, cause, occasion, parent, quarrel, reason, score), mozgató (actuating, locomotive, locomotor, motor, movement, mover, moving, propulsive), motívum (motif, motion, pattern, theme), indító (actuating, starter, starter motor), indíték (cause, ground, grounds, impulse, inducement, motion, motivation, persuasive, reason, stimulus). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | berada-ada (have a hidden motive). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | motivo (account, call, cause, design, grounds, incentive, inducement, motif, occasion, pattern, point, reason, sake, score, theme). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 了見 (decision, design, discretion, forgiveness, idea, inclination, intention, thought, toleration). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | した""ろ (secret intention), きっかけ (chance, cue, excuse, impetus, occasion, start), しゅい (aim, first place, gist, head position, idea, leading position, main meaning, meaning, opinion), しゅし (finger, gist, idea, meaning, object, opinion, pit, seed), どうき (contemporary, copperware, corresponding period, incentive, palpitation, pulsation, same class, same period, same temperament, same turn of mind, synchronous, throbbing), ほ"い (basis, change one's mind, hopes, one's real intent, principle, standard), ほ"ね (real intention), ""ろざし (intention, will), りょうけ" (decision, design, discretion, forgiveness, gun dog, hound, hunting dog, idea, inclination, intention, thought, toleration), りゆう (pretext, reason), '"どう (speech and conduct). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 동기. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | oyr (cause, incentive, matter, occasion, reason), greesaght (incitement, instigation). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Papiamen | motibu (account, reason). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | otivemay razão (argument, call, cause, complaint, gear-ratio, justification, logical reasoning, mind, occasion, place, proportion, proportionable, rate, ratio, rationality, reason, right, score, warrant, wherefore), motriz (driving), motivo (account, cause, foundation, ground, motif, motto, mover, occasion, persuasive, place, reason, sake, score, signal, subject, wherefore, why), causa (account, affair, brief, business, business deal, case, cause, fortuity, fount, inducement, lawsuit, matter, mover, occasion, parent, reason, root, sake, wherefore). (various references) motrice, motor (device, driver, driving, engine, motor, mover, stimulus), motiva (base, ground, justify, motivate), motiv (account, call, cause, consideration, ground, impulse, occasion, reason, score, spring, subject, wherefore, whys), mobil (changeable, detachable, impulse, mobile, movable, moving, personal, removable, unstable, working), stimulator (provocative, stimulant, stimulating), stimula (abet, activate, actuate, brace, cheer, develop, dynamize, elate, Energize, enliven, excite, fillip, fire, gladden, goad, hop, incite, inspire, irritate, lash, needle, pander to, pep, pep up, prick, prompt, propel, provoke, push, quicken, rouse, sharpen, spur, stimulate, stir up, tickle, urge, whet), raţiune (ground, intellect, intelligence, lucidity, mind, ratio, rationality, reason, sense, understanding, wit), pricinã (affair, cause, reason, spring, trouble, wherefore), justifica (account, authorise, authorize, exculpate, found, justify, vindicate, warrant), inspira (draw, imbibe, inculcate, inform, infuse, inhale, inspire, inspire with, suggest), dicta (command, dictate, indite), cauzã (account, bottom, call, cause, consideration, ground, induction, reason, root, score, subject, wherefore, whys). (various references) мотив (motif, reason, tune). (various references) motiv (motif), razlog (cause, excuse, reason, why), povod (cause, inducement, reason, room), pokretački (motional, moving, propellant, propellent), podsticajni, pobuditi (arouse, induce, move), pobuda (impulse, incetive, motivation). (various references) motivo (account, cause, ground, inducement, motif, occasion, reason, sake), lugar (account, disposal, hostel, inducement, investment, lieu, locale, locus, occasion, place, point, reason, room, scene, site, space, spot, stead, village). (various references) motiv (account, designs, motif, persuasive, reason, subject, theme), skäl (argument, cause, ground, reason, wherefores), grond, bevekelsegrund (inducement, persuasive), anledning (call, cause, ground, occasion, provocation, reason, score). (various references) neden (case, causatively, cause, forwhy, ground, inducement, occasion, point, reason, rise, room, seeds, what for, whence, wherefore, wherefrom, why), hareket ettirici (driving, locomotive, motor, mover), güdü (drive, go, impetus, incentive, motivation, numen, spur), dürtü (challenge, compulsion, drive, ginger, impetus, impulse, impulsion, incentive, motivation, spur, stimulation, urge), âmil. (various references) спонукати (abet, actuate, cause, excite, impel, impulse, induce, motivate, prick, prod, prompt, provoke, push on, rouse, set off, spur, urge), спонукальний (impellent, impulsive, incentive, inductive), спонука (impetus, impulse, impulsion, incentive, motion, motivation, oestrus, persuasive, provocation, urge), руховий (locomotive, motional, motor), рушійний (driving, locomotive, motor, moving, propellant, propellent, propelling), мотив (animus, cause, oestrus, sanction, tune), лейтмотив (keynote, leitmotiv, motif), бути мотивом. (various references) vận động (locomotor, motional, motor), lý do (cause, consideration, peg, pretext, reason, wherefore), chuyển động (mobile, motional, motory), cớ (cause, matter, pretext, wherefore). (various references) cymhelliad (inducement). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | causa, fomes. (various references) |
| Medieval Latin | 700-1500 | motivus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "motive": motived, motiveless, motivelessly, motives. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "motive": automotive, emotive, locomotive, nonautomotive, promotive. (additional references) | |
Words containing "motive": emotively, locomotives, promotiveness, promotivenesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Motive" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Mateev, mativ, mative, Mistivoj, moite, Mostovoi, Mostovoy, motife, motiue, Motiv, motiva, motival, motived, Movitex, Muotome, Mushvig, mutie, notive, omive. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "motive" (pronounced mō"tiv) |
| 5 | m ō" t i v | automotive, locomotive, nonautomotive. |
| 3 | -t i v | abortive, accommodative, accumulative, accusative, acquisitive, active, adaptive, addictive, additive, adjective, administrative, adoptive, affective, affirmative, alliterative, alternative, anticompetitive, appointive, appreciative, argumentative, assaultive, assertive, attentive, attractive, authoritative, captive, causative, cognitive, collaborative, collective, combative, commemorative, communicative, comparative, competitive, conductive, congestive, connective, consecutive, conservative, constructive, consultative, contemplative, contraceptive, cooperative, corrective, corruptive, counterproductive, creative, cumulative, curative, deceptive, decorative, defective, definitive, degenerative, deliberative, demonstrative, derivative, descriptive, destructive, detective, digestive, dilutive, diminutive, directive, disincentive, disparages, dispositive, disruptive, dissipative, distinctive, distributive, duplicative, effective, elective, elucidative, eruptive, evocative, executive, exhaustive, expletive, exploitative, exploitive, facultative, Federative, festive, figurative, fixative, formative, fugitive, furtive, generative, hyperactive, hypersensitive, illustrative, imaginative, imitative, imperative, inactive, inattentive, incentive, indicative, ineffective, infective, infinitive, informative, initiative, injunctive, innovative, inoperative, inquisitive, insensitive, instinctive, instructive, interactive, interpretive, introspective, intuitive, invective, inventive, investigative, irrespective, iterative, laxative, legislative, lucrative, manipulative, meditative, narrative, native, negative, neoconservative, noncompetitive, noncumulative, nonexecutive, nonnative, nonproductive, normative, nutritive, objective, obstructive, octave, operative, overactive, palliative, participative, pejorative, perceptive, perspective, photoconductive, plaintive, positive, predictive, preemptive, prerogative, preservative, presumptive, preventative, preventive, primitive, proactive, probative, productive, prognosticative, prohibitive, projective, prospective, protective, provocative, punitive, putative, qualitative, quantitative, radioactive, reactive, receptive, reconstructive, recuperative, redemptive, redistributive, reflective, refractive, regulative, rehabilitative, relative, remunerative, rep, repetitive, representative, reproductive, respective, restive, restorative, restrictive, retroactive, retrospective, secretive, sedative, seductive, selective, sensitive, speculative, stimulative, subjective, substantive, suggestive, superconductive, superlative, supportive, talkative, tentative, ultraconservative, unattractive, uncompetitive, uncooperative, unimaginative, uninformative, unproductive, unreceptive, unrepresentative, vegetative, vindictive, vituperative. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-i-m-o-t-v" | |
-1 letter: movie, vomit. | |
-2 letters: emit, item, mite, mote, move, omit, time, tome, veto, vote. | |
-3 letters: met, mot, tie, toe, tom, vet, vie, vim, voe. | |
-4 letters: em, et, it, me, mi, mo, oe, om, ti, to. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-i-m-o-t-v" | |
+1 letter: bevomit, emotive, motived, motives, vicomte, vomited, vomiter. | |
+2 letters: bevomits, demivolt, monitive, motivate, overtime, overtrim, pivotmen, vicomtes, vomiters, vomitive. | |
+3 letters: bevomited, combative, demivolts, emotively, emotivity, formative, leitmotiv, motivated, motivates, muscovite, normative, overtimed, overtimes, overtrims, promotive, sovietism, vomitives, vomituses. | |
+4 letters: automotive, bevomiting, combustive, completive, dominative, formatives, leitmotivs, locomotive, motivative, motiveless, motivities, muscovites, nominative, overcommit, overmighty, overtiming, remotivate, sovietisms, vagotomies, variometer, vasotomies, viscometer, viscometry, vitrectomy, volumetric, vomitories. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4D 6F 74 69 76 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-- --- - .. ...- . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001101 01101111 01110100 01101001 01110110 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)M o t i v e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)004D 006F 0074 0069 0076 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)478186758871 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Historic | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Quotations: Speeches 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Orthography | 21. Bibliography |
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