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

Now, a new threat intelligence report has revealed how financially motivated Chinese cybercriminals are targeting government offices, the energy sector, factories, financial services, and, yes, hospitals across the globe. —Davey Winder, Forbes.com, 20 Apr. 2025

In fact, monetary policymaking that is data-driven and technocratic, rather than politically motivated, has since the early 1990s been seen as the gold standard of governance of national finances. —Ana Carolina Garriga, The Conversation, 18 Apr. 2025

Related article Stay motivated to work out by using mottos or mantras 2. —Dana Santas, CNN Money, 18 Apr. 2025

This process is complicated by design — a design intended to protect universities from capricious, politically motivated meddling and to make the withdrawal of federal funding an option of last resort. —M. Gessen, Mercury News, 16 Apr. 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