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

Your most motivated business buyer might not be a competitor at all. — Lien De Pau, Forbes.com, 4 July 2026

Hispanics or Latinos were the target of the biggest increase in racially or ethnically motivated hate crimes, according to the report. — Jazmin Alvarado, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2026

Oberlander was even more direct in his assessment, suggesting the terminations were politically motivated. — Greg Iacurci, CNBC, 3 July 2026

Some officials acknowledge—in private—that politically motivated purges have left the country’s law-enforcement and intelligence agencies understaffed and more prone to mistakes. — Shane Harris, The Atlantic, 3 July 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