Motive vs Purpose - What's the difference?
motive | purpose |
(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
An object to be reached; a target; an aim; a goal.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=
, volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= A result that is desired; an intention.
The act of intending to do something; resolution; determination.
* 2013 , Phil McNulty, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23830980]", BBC Sport , 1 September 2013:
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=
, title= The subject of discourse; the point at issue.
The reason for which something is done, or the reason it is done in a particular way.
(obsolete) Instance; example.
Have set as one's purpose; resolve to accomplish; intend; plan.
* Macaulay
(passive ) Designed for some purpose.
(obsolete) To have a purpose or intention; to discourse.
In obsolete terms the difference between motive and purpose
is that motive is an idea or communication that makes one want to act, especially from spiritual sources; a divine prompting while purpose is instance; example.In transitive terms the difference between motive and purpose
is that motive is to prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move while purpose is (passive) Designed for some purpose.As an adjective motive
is causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move; as, a motive argument; motive power.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.
Synonyms
* moving * (relating to motion) motionalExternal links
* * *Anagrams
* ----purpose
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)Ed Pilkington
‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told, passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}
- United began with more purpose in the early phase of the second half and Liverpool were grateful for Glen Johnson's crucial block from Young's goalbound shot.
Sarah Glaz
Ode to Prime Numbers, volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.}}
- (Spenser)
- The purpose of turning off the lights overnight is to save energy.
Synonyms
* (target ): aim, goal, object, target * (intention ): aim, plan, intention * (determination ): determination, intention, resolution * (subject of discourse ): matter, subject, topic * (reason for doing something ): reason * See alsoDerived terms
(terms derived from purpose) * all-purpose * common purpose * cross-purpose * fit for purpose * for all intents and purposes * game with a purpose * general-purpose * infinitive of purpose * multi-purpose * metapurpose * purpose-built * purposeful * purposeless * purpose-like * purpose loan * purposely * purpose statement * on purposeEtymology 2
From (etyl)Verb
(purpos)- I purpose to write the history of England from the accession of King James the Second down to a time which is within the memory of men still living.
- (Spenser)