motivated

Everyday

1. Motivated means keen and wanting to work hard to do something. tree →
2. Motivated also means caused or made to happen by a reason, as in «a racially motivated attack». tree →
3. Past form of «motivate»: gave someone a reason to act. tree →
4. A story or action that is well motivated has a clear, believable reason behind why things happen. tree →

In the lessons

In school reports and sport: a motivated pupil works hard. In news: what something was motivated by tells the reader why it happened.

Examples

• She is very motivated to learn the piano. tree →
• The coach motivated the team at half-time. tree →
• I feel motivated after the holidays. tree →
• His kindness was motivated by love. tree →
• The crime was motivated by money. tree →
• Motivated pupils often ask lots of questions. tree →
• But the tale as is told is clearly not sufficiently motivated. tree →

Note

Noun: motivation. Opposite: unmotivated. It is often followed by «to» + verb («motivated to win») or «by» + reason.