mismotivate

present singular third person mismotivates · participle present mismotivating · participle past mismotivated · past mismotivated

1. To motivate toward the wrong goal.

   It is confusion between having a fixed nature and having a fixed future that mismotivates the anguish over determinism.

   2003, Daniel C. Dennett, Freedom Evolves

   2 more examples

   We who are supposed to direct the skill learning of students bear a heavy responsibility here. We should motivate — not mismotivate; direct — not misdirect.

   1944, Business Education World - Volume 24, page 397

   On the other hand, a woman with a major or recurrent problem (VD, unplanned pregnancies, recurrent vaginal infection, anorgasmia, etc.) needs guidance to find the root of her problem: Has she “mismotivated” herself”? Has she lost her “healthy image” of herself?

   2012, Allen Lawrence, Laura Edwards, “Self-Help in Gynecological Practice”, in Martha Kirkpatrick, editor, Women’s Sexual Development: Explorations of Inner Space, page 273