motivate
Americanverb (used with object)
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motivates,
present (3rd person singular)
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motivated,
past participle, past
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motivating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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motivatornoun
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demotivateverb (used with object)
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remotivateverb (used with object)
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nonmotivatedadjective
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unmotivatedadjective
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unmotivatingadjective
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well-motivatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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motivatesimple
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motivatessimple
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have motivatedperfect
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has motivatedperfect
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am motivatingprogressive
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are motivatingprogressive
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is motivatingprogressive
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have been motivatingperfect progressive
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has been motivatingperfect progressive
Past
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motivatedsimple
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had motivatedperfect
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was motivatingprogressive
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were motivatingprogressive
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had been motivatingperfect progressive
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
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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.
See Examples For:
Garfield, a pediatrician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, said his experiences with families in the neonatal intensive care unit helped motivate the research.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
Outside a grocery store, 60-year-old nurse Aila Heilima said she hoped the investment would "motivate young people to stay" in Muhos for work, instead of moving to bigger towns in search of job opportunities.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
When asked what would motivate her to get out and vote this November, she contemplated what to say.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
Live sports are a major draw for broadcasters and streamers alike, because they motivate people to subscribe to services and watch in real time, creating high-value opportunities for advertisers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
“Well, are you going to motivate people to bring peace to war- torn nations, or are you going to motivate people to join a cult and drink the Kool-Aid?”
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
“And if it hurts, hopefully it motivates those who are in power to make sure that when these things come to light, they put a stop to it.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
This link between thinking and doing serves a clear function – it motivates us to get the necessities for life.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
"What motivates me the most, and I think this is true for every player, is winning and continuing to grow," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
“Princess Mononoke” proves that sometimes losing too much motivates us to help nature to regain some ground.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
“You have to think of who your character is, who her friends are, if she has a good relationship with her parents or not, what motivates her,” she says.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
His implied disappointment motivated me to return to UCSB.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Savage was motivated to create this rave for trans women to feel free behind the decks and on the dancefloor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
With unruly hair, round glasses, an affable demeanor and a taste for V-neck sweaters, Amodei is worlds away from the corporate executive archetype -- and seems to be motivated by something his peers are not.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
Young people are motivated most to cast a ballot in order to take action on issues they care about.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
But for better or worse, I am not motivated by kindness.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
“If your focus is on the thing you want, then it’s more benign and more motivating if you recognize that,” Kim says.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
What we found was disheartening but also motivating.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Hoang says a motivating factor for her film was to confront cultural norms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
We don’t know what was motivating the solo juror who wanted to send Clancy to jail rather than to a psychiatric hospital.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
Barack and I belonged to the same gym, run by a jovial and motivating athletic trainer named Cornell McClellan.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
