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‘police were unable to establish a motive for his murder’
‘I confess to having an inherent mistrust of the motives behind the development of GM crops and foods.’
‘He says he doesn't know what motives could be behind the leak.’
‘The key ethical and legal point is the intention - the motive behind the act.’
‘And we tell ourselves that it's all right, that for us it's different, that we have an excuse, a reason, a motive.’
‘Details were released as detectives confirmed they now believe there was a sexual motive behind the girl's kidnap and murder.’
‘Normally I am very careful before I ascribe such sinister motives to a government agency.’
‘Either his motive alone was sufficient reason to suspect him, or it wasn't.’
‘Richardson said that detectives were keeping an open mind about the possible motive for the triple murder.’
‘In addition to your total lack of evidence, you are unable even to establish a reasonable motive.’
‘There's an ulterior motive behind everything they do.’
‘There is a difference between a reason and a motive.’
‘Mr Locke asks why people are questioning his motives, and the reason is that we have studied him.’
‘From this side of the Atlantic, the motives behind this action appear far more self-serving.’
‘More than a month on, police are no closer to finding his killer, or establishing a motive for the murder.’
‘Police believe robbery was the motive for the attack.’
‘Detectives are hoping to establish the motive for the murder attempt in the coming days, and will examine the possibility that it may have been drug related.’
‘Police have also been carrying out door-to-door inquiries to establish a motive for the murder.’
‘Detectives said yesterday that they had not yet established a motive for the double murder, but believed it might have been linked to a domestic dispute.’
‘There was little attempt to disguise the political motives behind the move.’
‘When someone offers you help, must you seek out an ulterior motive behind the gesture?’
‘Of course there are other possible motives for murder besides a disagreement over business matters.’
reason, motivation, motivating force, rationale, grounds, cause, basis, occasion, thinking, the whys and wherefores, object, purpose, intention, design
1attributiveProducing physical or mechanical motion.
‘the charge of gas is the motive force for every piston stroke’
‘These flying triangles aren't ready to bear the weight of their own motive energy source.’
‘As a consequence, the question of whether the new industry should continue to use gasoline as its motive fuel arose.’
‘With the invention of the internal combustion engine, in the late 19th century, new possibilities of motive force became available.’
‘Wind turbines, also known as wind mills, use the wind as their motive force.’
‘It may be powered by hand, pedal, or some other motive force such as a suitably geared lawn mower engine or the electric motor taken from a discarded washing machine.’
‘The motive force is supplied by sodium or hydrogen ions flowing down a concentration gradient from the outside.’
‘The change of motion is proportional to the motive force impressed; and is made in the direction of the straight line in which that force is impressed.’
‘Horses continued to provide the main motive force for commercial uses of the plateau such as grazing until the recent past.’
kinetic, driving, impelling, propelling, propulsive, operative, moving, motor
2attributiveCausing or being the reason for something.
‘the motive principle of a writer's work’
‘They sought to uncover the motive force of the class struggle - the key to the real understanding of all history.’
‘Feelings are important because they provide the motive force for thinking and acting.’
‘It is not a part of the real motive forces of the revolution.’
‘The driving motive force behind any country's sense of achievement and pride in its efforts must come from a focus on entrepreneurship.’
‘Rather, it's the essential motive force for a technologically vibrant economy.’
‘I think that's part of the motive force for this research, because of the great freedom that children express in their faith.’
‘It serves as a kind of a triggering mechanism, a motive force of military ideology.’
‘Fascists themselves claimed that ultranationalism was their motive force, and that the realization of the mobilized national community was their goal.’
‘Its motive force is protection and care, but it does not give enough space to personal liberty.’
‘While putatively providing the motive force for Mundy's actions, the anger finally overreaches itself.’
‘Looking back now, it seems to me that nothing has changed and that it was only a matter of days before profit was re-established as the system's principal motive force.’
‘Nationalist feeling was a far more powerful motive force in China than social radicalism.’
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French motif (adjective used as a noun), from late Latin motivus, from movere ‘to move’.