Excuse vs Motive - What's the difference?
excuse | motive |
To forgive; to pardon.
* Shakespeare
* Archbishop Sharp
To allow to leave.
To provide an excuse for; to explain, with the aim of alleviating guilt or negative judgement.
To relieve of an imputation by apology or defense; to make apology for as not seriously evil; to ask pardon or indulgence for.
* Bible, 2. Corinthians xii. 19
An explanation designed to avoid or alleviate guilt or negative judgment.
(legal) A defense to a criminal or civil charge wherein the accused party admits to doing acts for which legal consequences would normally be appropriate, but asserts that special circumstances relieve that party of culpability for having done those acts.
An example.(attention)
(obsolete) An idea or communication that makes one want to act, especially from spiritual sources; a divine prompting.
*, III.2.1.ii:
*:there's something in a woman beyond all human delight; a magnetic virtue, a charming quality, an occult and powerful motive .
An incentive to act in a particular way; a reason or emotion that makes one want to do something; anything that prompts a choice of action.
* 1947 , (Malcolm Lowry), Under the Volcano :
(obsolete, rare) A limb or other bodily organ that can move.
(legal) Something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour.
* {{quote-book, year=1931, author=
, chapter=10/6, title= (architecture, fine arts) A motif.
(music) A motif; a theme or subject, especially one that is central to the work or often repeated.
To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move.
Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move; as, a motive argument; motive power.
* 1658 , Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus , Folio Society 2007, p. 195:
Relating to motion and/or to its cause
In transitive terms the difference between excuse and motive
is that excuse is to provide an excuse for; to explain, with the aim of alleviating guilt or negative judgement while motive is to prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move.In lang=en terms the difference between excuse and motive
is that excuse is a defense to a criminal or civil charge wherein the accused party admits to doing acts for which legal consequences would normally be appropriate, but asserts that special circumstances relieve that party of culpability for having done those acts while motive is a motif; a theme or subject, especially one that is central to the work or often repeated.As an adjective motive is
causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move; as, a motive argument; motive power.excuse
English
Verb
(excus)- I excused him his transgressions.
- I must excuse what cannot be amended.
- A man's persuasion that a thing is duty, will not excuse him from guilt in practising it, if really and indeed it be against God's law.
- May I be excused from the table?
- I excused myself from the proceedings to think over what I'd heard.
- You know he shouldn't have done it, so don't try to excuse his behavior!
- Think ye that we excuse ourselves to you?
Synonyms
* forgive, let off the hook, let pass, pardon, unguiltDerived terms
* excuse me * excuse my FrenchNoun
(en noun)- Tell me why you were late – and I don't want to hear any excuses !
- That thing is a poor excuse for a gingerbread man. Hasn't anyone taught you how to bake?
- He's a sorry excuse of a doctor.
Usage notes
* We often say to make an excuse.Synonyms
* (explanation designed to avoid or alleviate guilt or negative judgment ): pretextExternal links
* * English heteronyms ----motive
English
Noun
(en noun)- Many of them at first seemed kind to him, but it turned out their motives were not entirely altruistic.
- (Shakespeare)
- What would his motive be for burning down the cottage?
- No-one could understand why she had hidden the shovel; her motives were obscure at best.
Death Walks in Eastrepps, passage=“Why should Eldridge commit murder?
- If you listen carefully, you can hear the flutes mimicking the cello motive .
Synonyms
* (incentive ) motivation * (creative works ) motifVerb
Synonyms
* motivateAdjective
(-)- In the motive parts of animals may be discovered mutuall proportions; not only in those of Quadrupeds, but in the thigh-bone, legge, foot-bone, and claws of Birds.
