motivated

adjective

mo·​ti·​vat·​ed ˈmō-tə-ˌvā-təd 

: provided with a motive : having an incentive or a strong desire to do well or succeed in some pursuit

a motivated employee

Courses are being offered on college campuses for those who are highly motivated but who without such help often drop out and are lost to society and themselves.

—Carol Kort

In a sporting context, for example, athletes who consistently seem to play hard and rarely concede defeat are often described as highly motivated or "competitive" by the media.

—Robert C. Eklund

Examples of motivated in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The aesthetically motivated traveler will find no shortage of pretty vignettes to capture. —Elly Leavitt, Vogue, 10 Mar. 2026

Figures in the main opposition Republican People’s Party, known by its Turkish initials CHP, have dismissed the charges as politically motivated. —Beril Akman, Bloomberg, 9 Mar. 2026

Last month, Vice President JD Vance, joined by Oz, announced that the federal government would withhold $259 million in Medicaid funding for people in Minnesota due to concerns about fraud — a claim that Democrats said was politically motivated. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr, NBC news, 9 Mar. 2026

Galvin said this motivated Hanover to play for their captain. —Hannah Hughes, Boston Herald, 9 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1903, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing motivated

• self-motivated

Rhymes for motivated

• abdicated
• abrogated
• acclimated
• activated
• actuated
• adumbrated
• advocated
• aggravated
• aggregated
• agitated
• allocated
• alternated