motivate

English

Etymology

motive +‎ -ate

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊtɪveɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊtɪveɪt/

Verb

motivate (third-person singular simple present motivates, present participle motivating, simple past and past participle motivated)

1. (transitive) To provide someone with an incentive to do something; to encourage.
   • The weekly staff meeting was meant to motivate employees.
2. (transitive) To animate; to propel; to cause to take action
   • He was motivated purely by self-interest.
   • Steam-motivated pumps are used in manufacturing.

Antonyms

• demotivate

Related terms

• motivated
• motivator
• motive

Translations

to encourage

• Arabic: حَثَّ‎ (ḥaṯṯa)
• Catalan: motivar (ca)
• Chinese: 激发 (jīfā)
• Czech: motivovat
• Dutch: motiveren (nl)
• Finnish: motivoida (fi)
• French: motiver (fr)
• Georgian: შეგულიანება (šegulianeba)
• German: motivieren (de)
• Hungarian: motivál (hu)
• Italian: motivare (it)
• Japanese: 動機を与える (どうきをあたえる, dōki o ataeru)

• Korean: ...에 동기를 주다 (...-e donggireul juda)
• Maori: whakaohooho, whakahihiko
• Norman: motiver
• Norwegian Bokmål: motivere
• Polish: motywować (pl)
• Portuguese: motivar (pt)
• Romanian: motiva (ro)
• Russian: мотиви́ровать (ru) (motivírovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: motivírati (sh)
• Spanish: motivar (es)
• Swedish: motivera (sv)
• Telugu: ప్రేరేపించు (te) (prērēpiñcu)

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Italian

Adjective

motivate f pl

1. feminine plural of motivato

Verb

motivate

1. second-person plural present indicative of motivare
2. second-person plural imperative of motivare
3. feminine plural of motivato

Anagrams

• vomitate