Showing results for "driven"

• past participle of drive.

driven

American  

[driv-uhn] / ˈdrɪv ən /

verb

1. past participle of drive.

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adjective

1. being under compulsion, as to succeed or excel.

   a driven young man who was fiercely competitive.

2. controlled or propelled by something specified (used in combination).

   a market-driven approach to retaining talent; data-driven business strategies; a water pump that is solar driven.

driven British  

/ ˈdrɪvən /

verb

1. the past participle of drive

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driven Idioms  

1. see pure as the driven snow.

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Other Word Forms

• drivenness
  noun
• undriven
  adjective
• well-driven
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of driven

First recorded in 1300–50, for the adjective for an earlier sense

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Explanation

If you're driven, you're strongly compelled or motivated to achieve a goal. If you're a driven gymnast, you spend hours in the gym each night perfecting your balance beam routine. If you know someone who is incredibly ambitious and hard working, you can call them driven. It takes a driven student to make it through medical school, and a driven dog musher to complete the Iditarod. In other words, you need drive, or determination, to achieve these things. Driven can also mean "moved and piled into drifts by wind," often in the phrase "driven snow." When combined with another noun, it can mean "propelled or powered," as in "a wind-driven boat."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

driven

The transformation is driven in part by Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s conviction that the rise and fall of nations is linked inextricably to the oceans.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026

Some may be driven to climb Everest just to say that they did it, while others are looking for something else, something with no name.

From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2026

This represents the first demonstration of a molecular motor that is driven by electrical current, firmly connected to two metal electrodes, and capable of rotating in a controllable direction.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 1, 2026

Hundreds of residents of the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky were evacuated and driven to safety on Friday, following a humanitarian ceasefire brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

He couldn’t know that she’d driven farm trucks since the age of twelve, that she’d skipped two grades and graduated high school at fifteen.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

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