All 7 Uses

motive
in
Pudd'nhead Wilson
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This was a little spat between the twins; not much of a spat, but still a spat; and before they got far with it, they were in a decided condition of irritation while pretending to be actuated by more respectable motives.†
Chpt 11

motives = reasons for doing something
Then robbery was not the motive, and revenge was.†
Chpt 19

motive = reason (for doing something)
If the motive had been robbery, the girl might answer; but there wasn't any girl that would want to take this old man's life for revenge.†
Chpt 19 *
that the motive was partly revenge, and partly a desire to take his own life out of jeopardy, and that his brother, by his presence, was a consenting accessory to the crime;†
Chpt 20
He had made up his mind to try a few hardy guesses, in mapping out his theory of the origin and motive of the murder—guesses designed to fill up gaps in it—guesses which could help if they hit, and would probably do no harm if they didn't.†
Chpt 21
To my mind, certain circumstances of the case before the court seem to suggest a motive for the homicide quite different from the one insisted on by the state.†
Chpt 21
It is my conviction that the motive was not revenge, but robbery.†
Chpt 21

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.