motivate

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Collins

World English Dictionary

motivate (ˈməʊtɪˌveɪt)

—vb
	(tr) to give incentive to

'motivator

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

motivate

1885, "to stimulate toward action," from motive (q.v.), perhaps modeled on Fr. motiver or Ger. motivieren. Related: Motivated; motivating.

Example sentences

For example, telling a former journalist he had a press conference to go to

would motivate him to get up and get dressed.

What will motivate a machine intellect if it even requires motivation will be

what the designers engineer into it.

Knowing the serious health risks may help motivate you to quit.

And you know what they are going to motivate me and I'll probably do better if

they're booing me everyday.

Upgrade to Ad-free Premium Membership!

Related Words

incentive travel

occasion

Matching Quote

"Shame is closely related to guilt, but there is a key qualitative difference. No audience is needed for feelings of guilt, no one else need know, for the guilty person is his own judge. Not so for shame. The humiliation of shame requires disapproval or ridicule by others. If no one ever learns of a misdeed there will be no shame, but there still might be guilt. Of course, there may be both. The distinction between shame and guilt is very important, since these two emotions may tear a person in opposite directions. The wish to relieve guilt may motivate a confession, but the wish to avoid the humiliation of shame may prevent it."

-Paul Ekman