driven
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
working very hard to reach a goal because you are determined to succeed.
characterised by a strong, obsessive, or passionate motivation to achieve specific objectives.
Simple“He is a very driven person who stays at the office until late every night.”
In context“The CEO is a remarkably driven individual whose relentless pursuit of market dominance has transformed the company's fortunes.”
Teacher's tipThis sense is often used to describe professionals or athletes who have an intense focus on their careers.
Synonyms - 02 C1 Advanced
pushed into piles or heaps by the wind, usually describing snow.
piled into drifts or heaps by the force of the wind; typically used in the phrase 'driven snow'.
Simple“The house was surrounded by deep, wind-driven snow.”
In context“The landscape was a desolate expanse of driven snow, with the original contours of the road completely obscured by the winter storm.”
Usage driven a surge
“The bumper crop of results means nearly 263,000 UK pupils have already been accepted on to university courses starting this autumn, driven in part by the rising number of 18-year-olds in the population.”
“That volume tracked with experience : The longer someone had driven, the larger that part of the brain.”
Morphologically drive + -n.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.