Motivating

How to spell motivating

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce motivating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does motivating mean?

1. adjectiveProviding a reason or encouragement to act, work, or strive.
2. verbThe present participle of motivate: actively giving someone a reason or drive to do something.

Motivating in a sentence

• adjective

  The coach gave a motivating talk before the final match.

• verb

  Motivating a tired team after a long week takes real effort.

• adjective

  A clear bonus scheme can be a powerful motivating factor at work.

• verb

  He spent the morning motivating his staff to hit the quarterly target.

Where does motivating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb movere, which simply meant 'to move' or 'to set in motion'. From its past participle motus came the medieval Latin motivus, describing something that causes movement, and the noun motivum for a moving cause or reason. English borrowed 'motive' through Old French in the late 1300s, and by the 1800s the verb 'motivate' had been formed to mean 'to supply a reason or drive for action'. 'Motivating' is the present participle, used both as a verb form and as an adjective meaning 'inspiring effort'. The same movere root still drives a large family of English words, including 'move', 'motion', 'emotion', and 'motor', which is a helpful reminder that the single t in 'motivating' belongs to that mot- core.

How the word is built

• mot- (move, from Latin movere 'to move')
• -ive (tending to)
• -ate (verb-forming)
• -ing (participle/adjective ending)