motive

Adjective

• impelling to action
  • it may well be that ethical language has primarily a motivative function- Arthur Pap
    
  • motive pleas
    
  • motivating arguments
    

• causing or able to cause motion
  • a motive force
    
  • motive power
    
  • motor energy
    

Noun

• a design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration

• a theme that is repeated or elaborated in a piece of music

• the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior
  • we did not understand his motivation
    
  • he acted with the best of motives
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  motivative(a) , motive(a) , motivating , motor , motif , motivation , need