motive

Definitions

• (obsolete) An idea or communication that makes one want to act, especially from spiritual sources; a divine prompting.
• An incentive to act in a particular way; a reason or emotion that makes one want to do something; anything that prompts a choice of action.
• (obsolete) A limb or other bodily organ that can move.
• (law) Something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour.
• (architecture) A motif.
• (music) A motif; a theme or subject, especially one that is central to the work or often repeated.