motivate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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motivatornoun
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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
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.
Granting executives options that become highly valuable at the IPO can help motivate managers to complete the offering.
From Salon • Jun. 13, 2026
"It's a story of someone who dared to dream, and I want people to take this example and motivate themselves to be very ambitious and to go for whatever their heart desires."
From BBC • Jun. 12, 2026
What else could motivate him into action quite like some Lorne Michaels mentee?
From Slate • Jun. 11, 2026
Rams architects Les Snead and Sean McVay can still adroitly motivate a player without pressing too hard.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026
She hoped that would motivate Bill to make some changes.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
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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.