mismotivate

English

Etymology

mis- +‎ motivate

Verb

mismotivate (third-person singular simple present mismotivates, present participle mismotivating, simple past and past participle mismotivated)

1. To motivate toward the wrong goal.
   • 1944, Business Education World - Volume 24, page 397:

     We who are supposed to direct the skill learning of students bear a heavy responsibility here. We should motivate — not mismotivate; direct — not misdirect.

   • 2003, Daniel C. Dennett, Freedom Evolves:

     It is confusion between having a fixed nature and having a fixed future that mismotivates the anguish over determinism.

   • 2012, Allen Lawrence, Laura Edwards, “Self-Help in Gynecological Practice”, in Martha Kirkpatrick, editor, Women’s Sexual Development: Explorations of Inner Space, page 273:

     On the other hand, a woman with a major or recurrent problem (VD, unplanned pregnancies, recurrent vaginal infection, anorgasmia, etc.) needs guidance to find the root of her problem: Has she “mismotivated” herself”? Has she lost her “healthy image” of herself?