WordNet Search

Key: "S:" = Show Synset (semantic) relations, "W:" = Show Word (lexical) relations

Display options for sense: (gloss) "an example sentence"

S: (n) motivation, motive, need (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"

S: (n) life (a motive for living) "pottery was his life"
S: (n) rational motive (a motive that can be defended by reasoning or logical argument)

S: (n) reason, ground (a rational motive for a belief or action) "the reason that war was declared"; "the grounds for their declaration"

S: (n) occasion (reason) "there was no occasion for complaint"
S: (n) score, account (grounds) "don't do it on my account"; "the paper was rejected on account of its length"; "he tried to blame the victim but his success on that score was doubtful"
S: (n) why, wherefore (the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase `the whys and wherefores')

S: (n) moral force, dynamic (an efficient incentive) "they hoped it would act as a spiritual dynamic on all churches"

S: (n) irrational motive (a motivation that is inconsistent with reason or logic)

S: (n) irrational impulse (a strong spontaneous and irrational motivation) "his first impulse was to denounce them"; "the urge to find out got him into trouble"

S: (n) compulsion, irresistible impulse (an urge to do or say something that might be better left undone or unsaid) "he felt a compulsion to babble on about the accident"

S: (n) mania, passion, cacoethes (an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action)

S: (n) agromania (an intense desire to be alone or out in the open)
S: (n) dipsomania, alcoholism, potomania (an intense persistent desire to drink alcoholic beverages to excess)
S: (n) egomania (an intense and irresistible love for yourself and concern for your own needs)
S: (n) kleptomania (an irresistible impulse to steal in the absence of any economic motive)
S: (n) logorrhea, logomania (pathologically excessive (and often incoherent) talking)
S: (n) monomania, possession (a mania restricted to one thing or idea)
S: (n) necrophilia, necrophilism, necromania (an irresistible sexual attraction to dead bodies)
S: (n) phaneromania (an irresistible desire to pick at superficial body parts (as in obsessive nail-biting))
S: (n) pyromania (an uncontrollable desire to set fire to things)
S: (n) trichotillomania (an irresistible urge to pull out your own hair)

S: (n) compulsion, obsession (an irrational motive for performing trivial or repetitive actions, even against your will) "her compulsion to wash her hands repeatedly"

S: (n) onomatomania (obsession with a particular word which the person uses repeatedly or which intrudes into consciousness)

S: (n) abience ((psychology) an urge to withdraw or avoid a situation or an object)
S: (n) adience ((psychology) an urge to accept or approach a situation or an object)
S: (n) death instinct, death wish, Thanatos ((psychoanalysis) an unconscious urge to die)
S: (n) wanderlust, itchy feet (very strong or irresistible impulse to travel)

S: (n) ethical motive, ethics, morals, morality (motivation based on ideas of right and wrong)

S: (n) hedonism (the pursuit of pleasure as a matter of ethical principle)
S: (n) conscience, scruples, moral sense, sense of right and wrong (motivation deriving logically from ethical or moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions)

S: (n) superego ((psychoanalysis) that part of the unconscious mind that acts as a conscience)
S: (n) wee small voice, small voice, voice of conscience (an inner voice that judges your behavior)
S: (n) sense of shame, sense of duty (a motivating awareness of ethical responsibility)

S: (n) Inner Light, Light, Light Within, Christ Within (a divine presence believed by Quakers to enlighten and guide the soul)

S: (n) incitement, incitation, provocation (something that incites or provokes; a means of arousing or stirring to action)

S: (n) signal (any incitement to action) "he awaited the signal to start"; "the victory was a signal for wild celebration"

S: (n) libidinal energy ((psychoanalysis) psychic energy produced by the libido)

S: (n) cathexis, charge ((psychoanalysis) the libidinal energy invested in some idea or person or object) "Freud thought of cathexis as a psychic analog of an electrical charge"
S: (n) acathexis ((psychoanalysis) a lack of cathexis; a condition in which significant objects or memories arouse no emotion in an individual)

S: (n) motivation (the condition of being motivated) "his motivation was at a high level"
S: (n) motivation, motivating (the act of motivating; providing incentive)