motive

adjective

  1. 1

    impelling to action

    it may well be that ethical language has primarily a motivative function"- Arthur Pap

    motive pleas

  2. 2

    causing or able to cause motion

    a motive force

    motive power

noun

  1. 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

    we did not understand his motivation

    he acted with the best of motives

  2. 2

    a design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration

  3. 3

    a theme that is repeated or elaborated in a piece of music

Synonyms

Also useful for “motive”:Scrabble