All 6 Uses

motive
in
Riders of the Purple Sage
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This time, however, she gazed into her glass with more than the usual happy motive, without the usual slight conscious smile.†
Chpt 2 *

motive = reason (for doing something)
Yet as she thought of her great motive, of Tull, and of that other whose name she had schooled herself never to think of in connection with Milly Erne's avenger, she suddenly found she had no choice.†
Chpt 11
That was the leading motive, the divinely spiritual one; but there were other motives, which, like tentacles, aided in drawing her will to the acceptance of a possible abnegation.†
Chpt 11
That was the leading motive, the divinely spiritual one; but there were other motives, which, like tentacles, aided in drawing her will to the acceptance of a possible abnegation.†
Chpt 11

motives = reasons for doing something
Bess was only one of millions at the mercy of unknown motive in nature and life.†
Chpt 14

motive = reason (for doing something)
Swiftly, conscious of only one motive—refusal to see this man called craven by his enemies—she rose, and with blundering fingers buckled the belt round his waist where it belonged.†
Chpt 19

Definitions:

(1) (motive as in: What is her motive?)
a reason for doing something
(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.