motivation (n.)

  1. the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior; we did not understand his motivation; he acted with the best of motives

    [ Syn: motive , need ]

  2. the condition of being motivated; his motivation was at a high level'

  3. the act of motivating; providing incentive

    [ Syn: motivating ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.