Other forms: motivated, motivating, motivates
To motivate is to give somebody the inner push to act. Motivate the team, hard to motivate, what motivates them.
It is about supplying a reason that works from inside rather than pressure applied from outside, which is the whole distinction between motivating and pushing. Research divides motivation into intrinsic, from interest in the thing itself, and extrinsic, from rewards — and paying people for something they already enjoy can reduce the first. Note motivation, motivated; and motive, which is the reason itself.
1verbmotivateTo give somebody the inner push to act.
“A good coach knows how to motivate players when they are losing.”
motivate is a giving of reason to act.
French motiver comes from motif, from Latin movere, to move. Motive, motion and emotion come from the same movement, so to motivate is to move somebody.
Anglo-Norman
motif
Middle English
motif
English
motive
English, today
motivate
From motive + -ate. Compare French motiver. motive comes from Middle English motif, from Anglo-Norman motif. From Middle English motif, from Anglo-Norman motif, Middle French motif, and their source, Latin motivum (“motive, moving cause”), neuter of motivus.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA