motivate

English

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊ.tɪ.veɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊ.tɪ.veɪt/, (uncommon) [ˈmoʊ.ɾɪ.veɪt], /ˈmoʊ.təˌveɪt/, [ˈmoʊ.ɾəˌveɪt]

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; to actuate.

   Synonyms: drive, spur; see also Thesaurus:incite

   Antonyms: demotivate, discourage, dissuade

   The weekly staff meeting was meant to motivate employees.

   • 2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 17:51 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN)‎^[1], archived from the original on 17 October 2022:

     Armor-piercing shells were heading up the shell hoists, but this procedure took a few minutes, allowing the battered American flagship to reply in kind, the gunners somewhat motivated to set new records for the rate of fire as the cruiser raked the larger ship from stem to stern in response.

2. (transitive) To animate; to propel; to cause to take action.

   Synonyms: drive, move, push

   Antonyms: demotivate, halt, stop

   He was motivated purely by self-interest.

   Steam-motivated pumps are used in manufacturing.

Derived terms

• mismotivate
• motivatable
• motivated (adjective)
• motivative
• motivator
• remotivate
• unmotivate

Related terms

• motivation
• motive

Translations

to encourage

• Arabic: حَثَّ (ḥaṯṯa)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: мотиви́рам (bg) (motivíram), подбуждам (bg) (podbuždam)
• Catalan: motivar (ca)
• Chinese: 激发 (zh) (jīfā) (jīfā)
• Czech: motivovat
• Dutch: motiveren (nl)
• Esperanto: motivi
• Finnish: motivoida (fi)
• French: motiver (fr)
• Georgian: შეგულიანება (šegulianeba)
• German: motivieren (de)
• Greek: παρακινώ (el) (parakinó)
• Hebrew: דרבן (he) (dirbén)
• Hindi: प्रेरित करना (prerit karnā)
• Hungarian: motivál (hu)
• Icelandic: mótivera, hvetja
• Irish: spreag
• Italian: motivare (it)
• Japanese: 動機を与える (どうきをあたえる, dōki o ataeru)
• Kazakh: ынталандыру (yntalandyru)
• Khmer: លើកទឹកចិត្ត (ləək tɨk cət)
• Korean: ...에 동기를 주다 (...e donggireul juda)
• Latin: corrōborō
• Māori: whakaohooho, whakahihiko
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: motiver
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: motivere

• Persian: برانگیختن (fa) (barângixtan)
• Polish: motywować (pl) impf, zmotywować pf
• Portuguese: motivar (pt)
• Romanian: motiva (ro)
• Russian: мотиви́ровать (ru) (motivírovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: motivírati (sh)
• Spanish: motivar (es)
• Swedish: motivera (sv)
• Telugu: ప్రేరేపించు (te) (prērēpiñcu)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: мотивува́ти impf or pf (motyvuváty)
• Vietnamese: khích lệ (vi), động viên (vi), khuyến khích (vi)

Italian

Etymology 1

Adjective

motivate f pl

1. feminine plural of motivato

Participle

motivate f pl

1. feminine plural of motivato

Etymology 2

Verb

motivate

1. inflection of motivare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Anagrams

• vomitate

Spanish

Verb

motivate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of motivar combined with te