verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To provide someone with an incentive to do something; to encourage; to actuate. transitive

   "The weekly staff meeting was meant to motivate employees."

2. 2
   give an incentive for action wordnet
3. 3
   To animate; to propel; to cause to take action. transitive

   "He was motivated purely by self-interest."

Synonyms

All synonyms

moveactuateencourageincitepromptdrive

Antonyms

All antonyms

demotivatediscouragedisempowerdissuade

Example

More examples

"The teachers are trying to motivate their students."

Etymology

From motive + -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French motiver.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.