Standard Lemma guide

motivational

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M OW2 T AH0 V EY1 SH AH0 N AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Tending or intended to motivate.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective

Meaning 2

of or relating to motivation

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Anglo-Norman motifder. Middle French motifder. Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh1- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *m(y)owh1éyetider. Proto-Italic *moweō Latin moveō Latin mōtus Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Late Latin mōtīvumder. Middle English motif English motive Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin -ātiōlbor. Old French -ationbor. Middle English -acioun English -ation English motivation English -al English motivational From motivation + -al.

Across languages

Translations

39 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: motivacional — tending or intended to motivate
  • Belarusian: матывацы́йны (matyvacýjny) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Bulgarian: мотивационен (motivacionen) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Chinese Cantonese: 勵志 /励志 (lai6 zi3) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Chinese: 勵志 /励志 (lē-chì) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Chinese Mandarin: 勵志 /励志 (lìzhì) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Czech: motivační — tending or intended to motivate
  • Finnish: motivoiva — tending or intended to motivate
  • Finnish: ryhdistävä — tending or intended to motivate
  • Finnish: innostava — tending or intended to motivate
  • French: incitatif — tending or intended to motivate
  • French: motivationnel — tending or intended to motivate
  • Galician: motivacional — tending or intended to motivate
  • German: anregend — tending or intended to motivate
  • German: anspornend — tending or intended to motivate
  • German: motivierend — tending or intended to motivate
  • German: ermutigend — tending or intended to motivate
  • Hindi: प्रेरक (prerak) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Hungarian: motivációs — tending or intended to motivate
  • Italian: motivazionale — tending or intended to motivate
  • Italian: pulsionale — tending or intended to motivate
  • Japanese: 動機付けの (dōkidzuke no) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Kazakh: уәждемелі (uäjdemelı) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Kazakh: уәждемелік (uäjdemelık) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Macedonian: мотивациски (motivaciski) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Persian: برانگیزشی (barângizeši) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Polish: motywacyjny — tending or intended to motivate
  • Portuguese: motivacional — tending or intended to motivate
  • Romanian: motivațional — tending or intended to motivate
  • Russian: мотивацио́нный (motivaciónnyj) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Russian: мотивиро́вочный (motiviróvočnyj) — tending or intended to motivate
  • Serbo-Croatian: мотивацијски — tending or intended to motivate
  • Serbo-Croatian: motivacijski — tending or intended to motivate
  • Slovak: motivačný — tending or intended to motivate
  • Slovene: motivacijski — tending or intended to motivate
  • Spanish: motivacional — tending or intended to motivate
  • Swedish: motiverande — tending or intended to motivate
  • Turkish: güdüsel — tending or intended to motivate
  • Ukrainian: мотиваці́йний (motyvacíjnyj) — tending or intended to motivate