motivate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
motivates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
motivated,
past participle, past
-
motivating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
motivatornoun
-
demotivateverb (used with object)
-
remotivateverb (used with object)
-
nonmotivatedadjective
-
unmotivatedadjective
-
unmotivatingadjective
-
well-motivatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
motivatesimple
-
motivatessimple
-
have motivatedperfect
-
has motivatedperfect
-
am motivatingprogressive
-
are motivatingprogressive
-
is motivatingprogressive
-
have been motivatingperfect progressive
-
has been motivatingperfect progressive
Past
-
motivatedsimple
-
had motivatedperfect
-
was motivatingprogressive
-
were motivatingprogressive
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
NAEP Test Words
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Mother's Day Words: What Mothers Do
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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
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
"Experience shows that I only come back stronger and all of these lessons this season definitely already made me stronger, but definitely going to motivate me for the next year to do better job."
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
But the ideas that motivate the new coalition repel parts of the old one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Miss Page said all she wanted to do was motivate her students to do their homework.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
It also allows managers to spend more time on what they’re uniquely qualified to do, while creating an environment that motivates employees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
“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
“Princess Mononoke” proves that sometimes losing too much motivates us to help nature to regain some ground.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
Though the pedants are mistaken in insisting that than and as may only be conjunctions, the tree-thinking that motivates their judgment is sound.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis denied the investigation was politically motivated.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
“It’s a good time to be looking for motivated sellers, buying right and structuring deals that make financial sense,” Carbonare said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 17, 2026
New campaign finance filings revealed that much of the advertising flurry was funded by one highly motivated donor: Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
Luster, who was drawn to the immense challenge of playing “something that’s not something,” wanted to find out what motivated it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
But for better or worse, I am not motivated by kindness.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
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
If a client wants to buy, he tries to understand what’s motivating the desire.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
“Who would sell grades for a stats course? Why would someone buy grades? What’s motivating them? Why wouldn’t the university be doing something about it?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
The arts, however, can be used effectively to augment this method, motivating students and appealing to their innate artistry and humanity.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
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.
