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

Three-time All-Star Miami big man Bam Adebayo, meanwhile, regressed without a fully motivated Butler at the beginning of the year — and without Butler entirely by the end of the season. —Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025

The park is lovely, the president of baseball operations knows ball (and is a very motivated competitor). —Levi Weaver, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025

Klie was motivated to undergo the procedure to encourage her family members with tremors to get treatments sooner. —Charlotte Observer, 2 Oct. 2025

As obligate carnivores with ferocious teeth, big cats were both motivated and equipped to rip primates to shreds. —Rebecca Van Laer september 30, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2025

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