ulteriority
1
9.9
- noun
- /ʌlˈtɪəriˌɪti/
- His ulteriority becomes clear when he makes promises he never intends to keep.
Examples
-
The ulteriority behind her friendly demeanor raised suspicions among her colleagues.
-
People often act with ulteriority, hiding their true intentions beneath a friendly facade.
-
But the degree of ulteriority in American race relations is far too great to be explained entirely by guilt.
Academic text (1998) -
Especially in this era of frantic indecision, with its impatient sun and hammering moon, with its pathological ulteriority, when it seems a wonder that two people might ever agree to anything like terms.
Fiction book (2001) -
It is with some of the canniness of his commitment to what he terms "ulteriority" that Frost refrains from remarking on the conventional representation of the oven bird's characteristic call: "Teacher, teacher."
Academic text (2017)
Synonyms
641
3.0
A reason, often hidden, that makes someone do something
7
4.3
The real reasons someone has for their actions, often hidden
1
7.1
Dishonest or sneaky behaviour to get what you want
Antonyms
How Hidden
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word ulteriority comes from a Latin root that means 'beyond', the same idea you see in ultra and ultimate. So, to act with ulteriority is to have a motive 'beyond' what you say — a hidden reason under the surface.