[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

motivate \mo"tivate\, v. t. imp.  p. p. -vated; p. pr. 
   vb. n. -vating. from motive, n.
   to provide with a motive; to move; impel; induce; incite. --
   mo`tiva"tion, n. --william james.

   syn: move, prompt, incite, induce impel, drive.
        webster 1913 suppl.
see also:
-vated -vating motive mo`tiva"tion 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

motivation \motivation\ n.
   1. the act or process of motivating.
      pjc

   2. the mental process that arouses an organism to action; as,
      a large part of a teacher's job is to give students the
      motivation to learn on their own.

   syn: motive, need.
        wordnet 1.5 +pjc

   3. the goal or mental image of a goal that creates a
      motivation2; as, the image of a peaceful world is a
      powerful motivation for only a rare few individuals.
      pjc

[3] : WordNet (r) 2.0

motivation
     n 1: 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" syn: motive, need
     2: the condition of being motivated; "his motivation was at a
        high level"
     3: the act of motivating; providing incentive syn: motivating
see also:
motive need motivating 

[4] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

57 moby thesaurus words for "motivation":
   activity, actuation, animation, aptitude, aptness, brightness,
   catalyst, cleverness, direction, docility, dynamics, educability,
   facility, going, impetus, impressionability, impulse, incentive,
   incitation, incitement, influence, inner-direction, instigation,
   intelligence, kinematics, kinesipathy, kinesis, kinesitherapy,
   kinetics, malleability, mobilization, moldability, motion, move,
   movement, moving, other-direction, plasticity, pliability,
   prompting, quickness, readiness, receptivity, restlessness,
   running, spur, stimulant, stimulation, stir, stirring,
   susceptibility, teachability, teachableness, trainableness, unrest,
   velocity, willingness

Motivation >> M Words
Motivation, definition of term: Motivation
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