EN

Synonyms for motivate

22 synonyms
6 antonyms
1 meaning

verb

Most common

push promote encourage incite

All synonyms

Verb

1. Encourage — to provide someone with an incentive to do something; to encourage; to actuate

encourage, incite, push, promote, excite, galvanize, galvanise UK, stimulate, bring about, urge, provoke, induce, propel, instigate, rouse, prompt, goad, drive, impel, actuate, tempt, spur, evoke

Antonyms

stop, discourage, dissuade

All antonyms of motivate →

Definitions

v. 1
To provide someone with an incentive to do something; to encourage; to actuate.
The weekly staff meeting was meant to motivate employees.

Related words

Word family: motivative motivator motivation motive

Forms

Past participle: motivated
e.g. motivated → encouraged, incited, pushed, promoted…

Example sentences

push He tried with all his might to push the door open.
promote We must promote commerce with neighboring countries.
encourage You often encourage me to be good and hardworking.
incite The speaker tried to incite the people to rebellion.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
motivate		rising
push		rising
promote		rising
encourage		steady
incite		steady

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters: push¹, urge¹, spur¹, goad¹
5 letters: drive¹, evoke², tempt¹, rouse¹, impel²
6 letters: prompt¹, induce², excite², propel², incite²
7 letters: promote², provoke², actuate³
9 letters: encourage³, stimulate³, instigate³, galvanize³, galvanise

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (evoke² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: motiver
Italiano: motivare
Español: motivar
Deutsch: veranlassen