MEANING
Coming from outside a thing or activity rather than belonging to its essential nature.
Use it for
rewards and incentives; external influences; separating internal qualities from contextIdentify an influence outside the activity or object itself.
Words that belong together
- extrinsic motivation
- extrinsic reward
- extrinsic factor
On the page
The course relied on extrinsic rewards rather than students' interest in the subject.
An extrinsic factor, the price of fuel, changed the project's viability.
The analysis separates the document's internal features from extrinsic evidence about its origin.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- extrinsic
Usage notes
Primary category: academic. Formal or academic; extrinsic motivation concerns external rewards or pressures, not necessarily weak motivation. Distinguish external origin from low importance. Normally non-gradable in this sense; comparison requires a specific contextual scale. Derived family (not inflections): extrinsically.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.