motivate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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demotivateverb (used with object)
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nonmotivatedadjective
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unmotivatedadjective
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remotivateverb (used with object)
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unmotivatingadjective
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well-motivatedadjective
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motivatornoun
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has motivatedperfect 3rd person singular
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have motivatedperfect
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are motivatingprogressive
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is motivatingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been motivatingperfect progressive
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am motivatingprogressive 1st person singular
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motivatingparticiple
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has been motivatingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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motivatessingular 3rd person
Past
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had motivatedperfect
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had been motivatingperfect progressive
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were motivatingprogressive plural
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was motivatingprogressive singular
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motivatedparticiple
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motivatedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of motivate
Explanation
To give someone the incentive to act in a certain way is to motivate that person. If you give your dad a food-processor for his birthday, you might motivate him to help out with the cooking. The verb motivate means to prompt or incite. By giving speeches on college campuses across the country, John F. Kennedy motivated a lot of young people to join the Peace Corps in the early 1960s. People are not always motivated in positive ways, however. When a crime is described as racially motivated, it means the perpetrators picked their victim because of the color of his skin.
Vocabulary lists containing motivate
List 5
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Mother's Day Words: What Mothers Do
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In 2017, nearly three-quarters of the more than 35 million U.S. bike-share trips were made on Motivate systems.
From Slate • Aug. 9, 2023
Good idea: Motivate your employees with gentle persuasion.
From Washington Post • Oct. 21, 2021
Every song on "Victory Lap" is classic, my favorites are "Blue Laces," "Last Time That I Checc’d," "Dedication," "Grinding All My Life," and "Hussle & Motivate."
From Salon • Dec. 23, 2019
Lyft says Uber was granted an exemption under its contract because Motivate was not able to deploy its own dockless option at the beginning of 2018.
From The Verge • Jun. 7, 2019
In August, Motivate, which runs Citi Bike, began testing a pilot program by installing 200 e-bikes into its collection of 12,000 bikes.
From New York Times • Oct. 9, 2018
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
