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motivo |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Motivo \Mo*ti"vo\, n. [It. See {Motive}, n.] See {Motive}, n., 3, 4. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Motive \Mo"tive\, n. [F. motif, LL motivum from motivus moving fr L. movere, motum, to move See {Move}.] 1. That which moves a mover. [Obs.] --Shak. 2. That which incites to action anything prompting or exciting to choise, or moving the will cause reason; inducement; object. By motive, I mean the whole of that which moves excites, or invites the mind to volition, whether that be one thing singly, or many things conjunctively. --J. Edwards. 3. (Mus.) The theme or subject; a leading phrase or passage which is reproduced and varied through the course of a comor a movement; a short figure, or melodic germ, out of which a whole movement is develpoed. See also Leading motive, under {Leading}. [Written also {motivo}.] 4. (Fine Arts) That which produces conception, invention, or creation in the mind of the artist in undertaking his subject; the guiding or controlling idea manifested in a work of art, or any part of one Syn: Incentive; incitement; inducement; reason; spur; stimulus; cause Usage: {Motive}, {Inducement}, {Reason}. Motive is the word originally used in speaking of that which determines the choice. We call it an inducement when it is attractive in its nature. We call it a reason when it is more immediately addressed to the intellect in the form of argument.