the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior; "we did not understand his motivation"; "he acted with the best of motives"
the act of motivating; providing incentive
the condition of being motivated; "his motivation was at a high level"
a relaxation or slackening of tensions or reserve; becoming less hostile; "the thaw between the United States and Russia has led to increased cooperation in world affairs"
warm weather following a freeze; snow and ice melt; "they welcomed the spring thaw"
the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid; "the power failure caused a refrigerator melt that was a disaster"; "the thawing of a frozen turkey takes several hours"
in or to or toward the rear; "he followed behind"; "seen from behind, the house is more imposing than it is from the front"; "the final runners were far behind"
remaining in a place or condition that has been left or departed from; "when he died he left much unfinished work behind"; "left a large family behind"; "the children left their books behind"; "he took off with a squeal of tires and left the other cars far behind"
in debt; "he fell behind with his mortgage payments"; "a month behind in the rent"; "a company that has been run behindhand for years"; "in arrears with their utility bills"
in or into an inferior position; "fell behind in his studies"; "their business was lagging behind in the competition for customers"
of timepieces; "the clock is almost an hour slow"; "my watch is running behind"