motivity

English

Etymology

From motive +‎ -ity.

Noun

motivity (countable and uncountable, plural motivities)

  1. (philosophy) The power to cause movement, especially as an inherent mental faculty. [from 17th c.]
    • 1945, Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy:
      The soul is what moves the body and perceives sensible objects; it is characterized by self-nutrition, sensation, thinking, and motivity (413b); but the mind has the higher function of thinking, which has no relation to the body or to the senses.
  2. Driving force, drive; creative power, invention. [from 19th c.]
    • 1922, DH Lawrence, Fantasia of the Unconscious:
      This is the prime motivity. And the motivity of sex is subsidiary to this: often directly antagonistic.
  3. (chiefly biology) Movement, mobility. [from 19th c.]

Synonyms

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