ulterior motive

English

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.
   • 1895, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 9, in The Stark Munro Letters:

     There lurks no bribe in the smell and beauty of the flower. Its charm has no ulterior motive.

   • 1941, "Poetry," Time, 8 Dec.,

     The poet is a man without a profit or any other kind of ulterior motive.

   • 2006, Philip Sington, Zoia's Gold‎^[1], Scribner, →ISBN, page 197:

     I have an ulterior motive, of course. I want a progress report on the catalog. You've been so mysterious about the whole thing, people are starting to talk.

Translations

alternative or hidden reason for doing something

• Catalan: segona intenció f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不可告人的動機, 不可告人的动机 (bùkěgàorén de dòngjī), (to have an ulterior motive) 別有用心, 别有用心 (biéyǒuyòngxīn), 他心 (tāxīn)

• Danish: bagtanke c
• Dutch: verborgen beweegredenen
• Finnish: taka-ajatus (fi)
• French: motif secret m, arrière-pensée (fr) f
• German: Hintergedanke (de) m
• Greek: υστεροβουλία (el) f (ysterovoulía)
• Hungarian: hátsó szándék (hu)
• Irish: aidhm fholaigh f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 下心 (したごころ, shitagokoro), 他心 (たしん, tashin), 他意 (たい, tai)
• Korean: 배후목적 (baehu mokjeog)
• Macedonian: задна цел (zadna cel)
• Norwegian: baktanke (no) m
• Portuguese: segunda intenção f
• Russian: за́дняя мысль (ru) f (zádnjaja myslʹ), скры́тый моти́в m (skrýtyj motív)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: скривени мотив m

  Roman: skriveni motiv m

• Spanish: segunda intención f
• Swedish: baktanke (sv) c