Word.ws English Dictionary

ulterior motives

ulterior motives is the plural of ulterior motive.

Meaning of ulterior motive

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

Questions about ulterior motives

What is ulterior motives the plural of?
Ulterior motives is the plural of ulterior motive.

Words near ulterior motives in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ulterior motives (page history and authors); ulterior motive (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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