All 22 Uses
motive
in
The Idiot
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- And yet that was my whole motive for coming.†
Chpt 1.3motive = reason (for doing something)
- I gave her the eight francs and asked her to take care of the money because I could get no more; and then I kissed her and said that she was not to suppose I kissed her with any evil motives or because I was in love with her, for that I did so solely out of pity for her, and because from the first I had not accounted her as guilty so much as unfortunate.†
Chpt 1.6motives = reasons for doing something
- "Don't be in a hurry, mother; the prince says that he has some motive behind his simplicity," cried Aglaya.†
Chpt 1.7motive = reason (for doing something)
- So saying she gazed into his eyes, longing to see whether she could make any guess as to the explanation of his motive in coming to her house.†
Chpt 1.13
- Of the rest of the audience, many had understood the allusion and wondered both at the daring of the lady and at the motive underlying it, but tried to show no sign of their feelings.†
Chpt 2.7
- Their children are sometimes congenital idiots, like the hero of our story; sometimes they are found in the dock at the Assizes, where they are generally acquitted by the jury for edifying motives; sometimes they distinguish themselves by one of those burning scandals that amaze the public and add another blot to the stained record of our age.†
Chpt 2.8motives = reasons for doing something
- Politely, but in dignified terms, as befitted his errand, he briefly explained the motive for his visit.†
Chpt 2.8 *motive = reason (for doing something)
- As to certain inaccuracies and figures of speech, so to speak, you will also admit that the motive, aim, and intention, are the chief thing.†
Chpt 2.8
- You have confused your motives and ideas, as I need scarcely say too often happens to myself.†
Chpt 2.11motives = reasons for doing something
- At times I have imagined that all men were the same," he continued earnestly, for he appeared to be much interested in the conversation, "and that consoled me in a certain degree, for a DOUBLE motive is a thing most difficult to fight against.†
Chpt 2.11motive = reason (for doing something)
- I fear these double motives more than ever just now, but I am not your judge, and in my opinion it is going too far to give the name of baseness to it—what do you think?†
Chpt 2.11motives = reasons for doing something
- You were going to employ your tears as a ruse in order to borrow money, but you also say—in fact, you have sworn to the fact—that independently of this your confession was made with an honourable motive.†
Chpt 2.11motive = reason (for doing something)
- As he concluded the prince looked curiously at Keller; evidently this problem of double motives had often been considered by him before.†
Chpt 2.11motives = reasons for doing something
- You don't seem to believe in people as you did, and are always attributing motives and so on—am I using the word 'sceptic' in its proper sense?†
Chpt 2.11
- You see, prince, for once in my life I wish to perform an absolutely honest action, that is, an action with no ulterior motive; and I think I am hardly in a condition to talk of it just at this moment, and—and—well, we'll discuss it another time.†
Chpt 3.7motive = reason (for doing something)
- That my motive power is hate, I do not attempt to conceal.†
Chpt 4.2
- We must never forget that human motives are generally far more complicated than we are apt to suppose, and that we can very rarely accurately describe the motives of another.†
Chpt 4.3motives = reasons for doing something
- We must never forget that human motives are generally far more complicated than we are apt to suppose, and that we can very rarely accurately describe the motives of another.†
Chpt 4.3
- Your motive must have been a very noble one all through.†
Chpt 4.5motive = reason (for doing something)
- I am not acting from any high, exalted motives.†
Chpt 4.8motives = reasons for doing something
- As a characteristic addition to the above, it was currently reported that the young prince really loved the lady to whom he was engaged, and had thrown her over out of purely Nihilistic motives, with the intention of giving himself the satisfaction of marrying a fallen woman in the face of all the world, thereby publishing his opinion that there is no distinction between virtuous and disreputable women, but that all women are alike, free; and a "fallen" woman, indeed, somewhat superior to a virtuous one.†
Chpt 4.9
- But, underneath this, she had another motive, of which she did not speak.†
Chpt 4.10motive = reason (for doing something)
Definitions:
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(1)
(motive as in: What is her motive?) a reason for doing something
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Less commonly, motive can refer to something that causes motion in an inanimate object. Even less commonly, it can refer to a distinctive feature in music, art, or literature.