Meaning & use
de-motivated
Last updated
“de-motivated” is a form of “demotivated”.
Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Feeling that you have no reason or energy to keep doing something.
Grammar: Used after linking verbs like be, feel, seem, or before a noun: a demotivated team.
Patterns
- be/feel de-motivated
- de-motivated by something
- become de-motivated
After months of doing the same boring tasks, the whole team felt de-motivated.
She became de-motivated when her ideas were ignored again and again.
The new manager found a de-motivated staff and slowly turned things around.
verbtransitive
Past tense and past participle of demotivate: made someone lose their enthusiasm.
Grammar: This is the -ed form of the verb demotivate; it takes an object when active, but here it is usually passive.
Patterns
- be de-motivated by something
- something de-motivated someone
The constant criticism de-motivated even the most hardworking students.
He was de-motivated by the low pay and the long hours.
Word forms
| base form | demotivate |
|---|---|
| third person singular | demotivates |
| present participle | demotivating |
| past tense | demotivated |
| past participle | demotivated |
Common combinations
- feel de-motivated
- I feel de-motivated when nobody replies to my emails.
- become de-motivated
- New employees soon become de-motivated if they get no training.
- a de-motivated workforce
- A de-motivated workforce is expensive for any company.
- completely de-motivated
- After the exam results, he was completely de-motivated.
- de-motivated by low pay
- Many nurses are de-motivated by low pay and long shifts.
Synonyms and how they differ
- discouraged
- Close in meaning, but discouraged often suggests a specific setback, while de-motivated suggests a general loss of drive.
- disheartened
- Stronger and more emotional than de-motivated; it stresses sadness and loss of hope.
- unmotivated
- Very similar, but unmotivated can describe a person who never had much drive, not one who lost it.
Opposites
Word family
- demotivate verb
- to make someone lose their enthusiasm or drive
- demotivating adjective
- making people lose interest or energy
- demotivation noun
- the state of having lost enthusiasm for something
- motivate verb
- to make someone want to do something
Commonly confused: de-motivated or demoted?
de-motivated vs demoted
Demoted means moved to a lower rank or job; de-motivated means having lost enthusiasm. The words look similar but are unrelated.
Practice
After two years without a promotion, Marta felt completely ______ and started looking for another job.
Choose one answer.
'Felt completely de-motivated' describes her lost enthusiasm, which fits the context. 'Motivated' is the opposite, 'motivating' describes something that inspires others, and 'motivation' is a noun and cannot follow 'felt completely'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “de-motivated”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.