Meaning & use
demotivates
Last updated
“demotivates” is a form of “demotivate”.
Meaning
verbtransitive
makes someone lose the desire or enthusiasm to do something
Grammar: Takes an object: The criticism demotivates the team. Often used in the passive: She felt demotivated.
Patterns
- demotivate someone
- demotivate a team
- be demotivated by something
Constant criticism demotivates even the most hardworking employees.
A boring routine demotivates students and makes them stop trying.
The lack of clear goals demotivates the whole department.
Word forms
| base form | demotivate |
|---|---|
| third person singular | demotivates |
| past tense | demotivated |
| past participle | demotivated |
| -ing form | demotivating |
Common combinations
- demotivates employees
- Unfair treatment demotivates employees and increases staff turnover.
- demotivates students
- Too much homework demotivates students who already feel behind.
- demotivates the team
- A manager who never listens demotivates the team.
- demotivates someone from doing something
- Fear of failure demotivates people from trying new things.
Synonyms and how they differ
- discourages
- Discourages means makes someone less confident or less willing; it can be milder than demotivates.
- disheartens
- Disheartens focuses on a feeling of sadness or loss of hope, while demotivates focuses on loss of drive.
- deters
- Deters means stops someone from doing something by making them afraid of the consequences.
Opposites
Word family
- demotivate verb
- The base form, meaning to make someone lose motivation.
- demotivated adjective
- Feeling that you have no desire or enthusiasm to do something.
- demotivating adjective
- Causing someone to lose motivation.
- demotivation noun
- The state of having lost the desire to do something.
Commonly confused: demotivates or demotes? demotivates or demotivate?
demotivates vs demotes
Demotes means moves someone to a lower rank or position. It sounds similar but is about status, not motivation.
demotivates vs demotivate
Demotivate is the base form; demotivates is the third person singular form used with he, she, it, or a singular noun.
Practice
Complete the sentence: A manager who ignores good work ____ the team.
Choose one answer.
The subject 'a manager' is singular, so the verb takes -s: demotivates. Demotivate is the base form, demotivating is the -ing form, and demotivated is the past tense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “demotivates”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.