Other forms: motives
A motive is the reason behind why somebody acted, especially a hidden one. A motive for the crime, no obvious motive, ulterior motives.
It is the standard term in criminal investigation, where motive, means and opportunity are the three things a case is built on. Ulterior motive means a hidden second reason, and mixed motives means more than one at once. As an adjective, motive means causing movement — motive power, motive force — which is the older sense and survives mainly in engineering. Note motivation, which is the drive to act rather than the reason for acting.
1nounmotiveThe reason behind why somebody acted.
“The police could not find a motive for any of it.”
synonyms: motivation, reason
2adjectivecausingCausing movement.
“The motive power was steam until about 1960.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
motive is a reason for acting.
Also accepted in games: motivation
Latin motivum means a moving cause, from movere, to move — the same verb behind motion, emotion and remove. A motive is literally what moves a person, which is a fair description of the thing.
Anglo-Norman
motif
Middle English
motif
English, today
motive
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