motivation

noun

mo·ti·va·tion ˌmō-tə-ˈvā-shən

Synonyms of motivation next

: the act or process of motivating

Some students need motivation to help them through school.

: the condition of being motivated

employees who lack motivation

: a motivating force, stimulus, or influence : incentive, drive

the Old Testament heroes added religious motivation to the waging of war—

Richard Humble

The fear of failure was the motivation for his achievements.

motivational

ˌmō-tə-ˈvā-sh(ə-)nəl

adjective

motivationally adverb

Examples of motivation in a Sentence

Some students need motivation to help them through school. Many people have questioned her motivations in choosing to run for office at this time.

Recent Examples on the Web My major motivation has never been making a ton of money. —

Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post, 20 Sep. 2023 Winston’s primary motivation is the death of his brother Frankie (Ben Robson), which sets him on a collision course with the Continental’s sadistic manager Cormac (Gibson). —

Alison Herman, Variety, 20 Sep. 2023 The movies have large ensembles, but most of the people in them exist to support John’s story, where The Continental creative team tries to turn almost everyone into a protagonist with their own complicated motivations and backstories. —

Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 20 Sep. 2023 Under Frosh, the attorney general’s office fought off several appeals from Syed, offered him a plea deal and then publicly questioned Mosby’s motivations for moving to undo Syed’s convictions. —

Alex Mann, Baltimore Sun, 19 Sep. 2023 Just gotta continue to fight and use it as motivation. —

CBS News, 19 Sep. 2023 The governor cited the fatal shootings of a 13-year-old girl in July, a 5-year-old girl in August and an 11-year-old boy this month as motivation behind the rule. —

Emma Colton, Fox News, 14 Sep. 2023 Deion Sanders will use any slight - real or perceived - to give his Colorado Buffaloes football team more motivation. —

oregonlive, 14 Sep. 2023 Brian Tyler, the company’s CEO who was already based in Irving, said at the time that the motivation behind moving was to increase efficiency by placing its employees and executives in the same hubs. —

Irving Mejia-Hilario, Dallas News, 13 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'motivation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.