motivate

verb

mo·ti·vate ˈmō-tə-ˌvāt

motivated; motivating

Synonyms of motivate next

transitive verb

: to provide with a motive : impel

questions that excite and motivate youth

She was motivated by a desire to help children.

motivative

ˈmō-tə-ˌvā-tiv

adjective

Examples of motivate in a Sentence

No one knows what motivated him to act in such a violent way.

Recent Examples on the Web Feeney said the recent deaths of her husband and son motivated her to reach out to Felder, who is now in his mid-80s. —

Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 28 Nov. 2023 Mark Kelly The Gaza War has led to another debate about what motivates Iran’s ruling elite. —

Reuel Marc Gerecht, WSJ, 27 Nov. 2023 The security establishment, motivated in part by victimhood and lingering Soviet paranoia, concluded that the primary threats came from being outclassed in both direct conventional warfare and indirect psychological conflict by the United States and its allies. —

Bob Seely, Foreign Affairs, 24 Nov. 2023 This is also motivated by preserving pieces that are too fragile to remain exposed for extended periods of time. —

Amy Verner, Vogue, 23 Nov. 2023 This year’s selections include a wide array that will get any passionate record collector motivated enough to rustle out of that Thanksgiving food coma and head out to their local record store early Friday morning. —

Ron Hart, SPIN, 22 Nov. 2023 For context, Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI, which meant Nadella was motivated to safeguard his company’s partnership with Altman, the face of OpenAI, following Friday’s surprising events. —

Lila MacLellan, Fortune, 21 Nov. 2023 During the height of the pandemic, people rushed to purchase a home, motivated by stay-at-home policies and mortgage rates driven to record lows by the Federal Reserve’s easy money policies. —

Andrew Khouri, Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2023 Be personable: Consider who your guests are and what motivates them, and try to create a personalized and personal takeaway for each person attending. —

Dominique Fluker, Essence, 16 Nov. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'motivate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.