as in diligent
having a strong desire for personal advancement
He was lauded by faculty as an exceptionally hardworking, curious, and motivated student. The company was looking for motivated self-starters to fill the sales position.
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in encouraged
to rouse to action or activity
The presence of treats motivated the dogs to obey their owner's commands. They drove a campaign to motivate voters to show up to the polls.
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Examples of motivated in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Alison Herman, Variety, 9 Oct. 2024
But Farmer is strongly motivated to save for retirement.
—Bailey Schulz, USA TODAY, 8 Oct. 2024
Trump’s billionaires—many of whom have made their fortunes as hedge-fund managers, activist investors, and corporate raiders—tend to be highly motivated ideologues and individual operators.
—Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2024
Scholars with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology contend that intrinsically motivated athletes, for example, often concentrate on skill improvement and their individual growth as athletes.
—Mark Lasota, Ph.d., Forbes, 5 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for motivated 
Adjective
One of these cold bodies was behind the shopping center bombing that opened the season — not an ideologically motivated act of terrorism, but a deadly form of acting out by a son against his father.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 9 Oct. 2024
But Farmer is strongly motivated to save for retirement.
—Bailey Schulz, USA TODAY, 8 Oct. 2024
Trump’s billionaires—many of whom have made their fortunes as hedge-fund managers, activist investors, and corporate raiders—tend to be highly motivated ideologues and individual operators.
—Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2024
Scholars with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology contend that intrinsically motivated athletes, for example, often concentrate on skill improvement and their individual growth as athletes.
—Mark Lasota, Ph.d., Forbes, 5 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for motivated
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'motivated.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Motivated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/motivated. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.
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