Word.ws English Dictionary

ulterior motive

ulterior motive noun: an alternative or extrinsic reason for doing something, especially when concealed or when differing from the stated or apparent reason.

Noun

ulterior motive (plural ulterior motives)

  1. An alternative or extrinsic reason for doing something, especially when concealed or when differing from the stated or apparent reason.
    • There lurks no bribe in the smell and beauty of the flower. Its charm has no ulterior motive.1895, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 9, in The Stark Munro Letters
    • The poet is a man without a profit or any other kind of ulterior motive.1941 December 8, “Poetry”, in Time

ulterior motive meaning in Tamil and Kannada

ulterior motive in Tamil

உள்நோக்கம், கமுக்கமான நோக்கம, மறைமுக உட்கருத்து, மறைமுக நோக்கம்

ulterior motive in Kannada

ದುರುದ್ದೇಶ, ಒಳ ಉದ್ದೇಶ

Forms of ulterior motive

pluralulterior motives

Questions about ulterior motive

What does ulterior motive mean?
Ulterior motive means an alternative or extrinsic reason for doing something, especially when concealed or when differing from the stated or apparent reason.
What is ulterior motive in Tamil?
Ulterior motive in Tamil is உள்நோக்கம், கமுக்கமான நோக்கம, மறைமுக உட்கருத்து. See Ulterior motive meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is ulterior motive?
Ulterior motive is a noun.
What is the plural of ulterior motive?
The plural of ulterior motive is ulterior motives.

Words near ulterior motive in the dictionary

  1. ult
  2. ult.
  3. ulta-pulta
  4. ulted
  5. ulterior
  6. ulterior motive
  7. ulterior motives
  8. ulterior to
  9. ulteriority
  10. ulteriorly
  11. ulteriorness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ulterior motive (page history and authors); ulterior motive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ulterior motive (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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