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Tendency vs Motive - What's the difference?

tendency | motive |

As a noun tendency

is a likelihood of behaving in a particular way or going in a particular direction; a tending toward.

As a verb motive is

.

tendency

English

Noun

(tendencies)
  • A likelihood of behaving in a particular way or going in a particular direction; a tending toward.
    • Denim has a tendency to fade.
  • An organised unit or faction within a larger political organisation.
    • a militant tendency

    Derived terms

    * multitendency

    Synonyms

    * inclination * disposition * propensity * penchant * trend

    motive

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (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 :
    • Many of them at first seemed kind to him, but it turned out their motives were not entirely altruistic.
  • (obsolete, rare) A limb or other bodily organ that can move.
    • (Shakespeare)
  • (legal) Something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour.
    • 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.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1931, author=
    • , chapter=10/6, title= Death Walks in Eastrepps , passage=“Why should Eldridge commit murder?
  • (architecture, fine arts) A motif.
  • (music) A motif; a theme or subject, especially one that is central to the work or often repeated.
    • If you listen carefully, you can hear the flutes mimicking the cello motive .

    Synonyms

    * (incentive ) motivation * (creative works ) motif

    Verb

  • To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move.

    • Synonyms

    * motivate

    Adjective

    (-)
  • 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:
    • 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.
  • Relating to motion and/or to its cause

    • Synonyms

    * moving * (relating to motion) motional

    External links

    * * *

    Anagrams

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