motivator

noun

mo·​ti·​va·​tor ˈmō-tə-ˌvā-tər 

plural motivators

: one that motivates or impels someone or something

a subconscious motivator of behavior

: such as

a

: a factor or situation that causes people to feel motivated to do something : incentive

Only a fool, though, would deny that money is a very real and basic need and, of course, a motivator of sorts.

—Robert W. Corl

Exercising with someone else … can be a motivator.

—Joanne Lannin

Andre Harris, without basketball as a motivator, had slipped back into bad habits academically.

—John Feinstein

b

: a person who motivates others

… won a reputation as a leader and a motivator …

—Leonard Silk

But Romo's not an enabler; he's a motivator, says [Jessica] Simpson. "If I'm not feeling good about myself, he'll say, 'Get your butt up and go to the gym then!'"

—Michelle Tan

Examples of motivator in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But Fatu’s desperation to win the championship has been the driving motivator. —Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 9 May 2026

Yet the main motivator is making the company’s leadership structure flatter, enabling its employees to work fast, with AI at the forefront. —Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 6 May 2026

Unchecked, that could ultimately dissuade firms from signing agreements, since increasing trust is supposedly a key motivator driving the latest attempt at government collaboration. —Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 6 May 2026

Failure leads to more success Ahead of this dominant senior season, failure, once again, proved to be a powerful motivator. —Kyle Newman, Denver Post, 4 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1918, in the meaning defined above