impulse vs motive

impulse

noun
  • A wish or urge, particularly a sudden one prompting action. 

  • A thrust; a push; a sudden force that impels. 

  • The integral of force over time. 

verb
  • To impel; to incite. 

motive

noun
  • An incentive to act in a particular way; a reason or emotion that makes one want to do something; anything that prompts a choice of action. 

  • A motif; a theme or subject, especially one that is central to the work or often repeated. 

  • A motif. 

  • Something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour. 

verb
  • To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move. 

adj
  • Relating to motion and/or to its cause 

  • Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move 

How often have the words impulse and motive occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )