How to Use extrinsic in a Sentence

extrinsic

adjective
  • You have to consider any extrinsic factors in the success of the business.
  • All of these foods or drinks cause or contribute to extrinsic stains.
    — Kristi Kellogg, GQ, 15 Oct. 2017
  • This refers to a call spread where the in-the-money call has the same extrinsic value as the out-of-the-money call.
    — Michael Khouw, CNBC, 27 Mar. 2025
  • Even so, Saville told me that such benchmarks are extrinsic to her artistic process.
    — Patrick Radden Keefe, The New Yorker, 24 July 2023
  • The most common causes of extrinsic stains are coffee, tea, red wine, colas, and smoking.
    — Sherri Gordon, Health, 2 Feb. 2025
  • On the other hand, extrinsic goals are those that are imposed from outside of you or are influenced by culture.
    — Rodger Dean Duncan, Forbes, 26 Sep. 2024
  • The factors that trigger enamel loss can be intrinsic or extrinsic.
    — Anna Giorgi, Verywell Health, 31 July 2024
  • There’s no basis for such cynicism, and extrinsic evidence to the contrary.
    — WSJ, 21 Aug. 2018
  • To do this right, business models have to think about intrinsic and extrinsic value creation in their analysis.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes, 15 Feb. 2024
  • But morality — whether intrinsic or extrinsic — doesn't hinge on the threat or promise of an afterlife or of being saved.
    — Kirsten Clodfelter, Good Housekeeping, 28 Apr. 2016
  • And that's that idea of intrinsic versus extrinsic properties.
    — Dan Snierson, EW.com, 14 Apr. 2020
  • Gray emphasized that true free play is not oriented around extrinsic goals, such as earning a high grade from a teacher or impressing a soccer coach.
    — Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2025
  • In college, many of those extrinsic factors and accountability measures go away.
    — Valerie Strauss, Washington Post, 14 Aug. 2017
  • In a child’s formative years, the intrinsic benefits of sport far outweigh the extrinsic rewards—the trophies and medals and records.
    — Isabel Fattal, The Atlantic, 8 Feb. 2018
  • Culture needs to go beyond extrinsic rewards to include a clear mission that employees feel connected to and inspired by.
    — Caroline Castrillon, Forbes, 12 Dec. 2021
  • The game itself didn’t bare much extrinsic weight, similar to Povich’s home debut at Camden Yards.
    — Sam Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 13 June 2024
  • Such alignment between the intrinsic and extrinsic purpose may not always be possible.
    — John Baldoni, Forbes, 12 Nov. 2021
  • Early longevity studies analyzed groups of people who were born in a time of widespread extrinsic mortality.
    — Cody Cottier, Scientific American, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Don't forget that extrinsic motivation works a lot better when intrinsic motivation is in place.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2022
  • This process is both intrinsic, when your own body causes new problems, and extrinsic, when environmental insults damage your tissues.
    — Ellen Quarles, Fortune Well, 7 July 2023
  • In some cases, researchers have even shown that what are known as intrinsic incentives—like the urge to do the right thing—can be weakened by extrinsic incentives such as monetary rewards.
    — Mengqi Sun, WSJ, 15 Mar. 2021
  • That authorization was broad and encompassed Gastineau’s name and likeness as reflected in extrinsic footage, such as that of the encounter with Favre.
    — Ryan Morik, FOXNews.com, 17 Mar. 2026
  • The more clearly that target is defined, the better the agent performs — that is why many of them are currently tested on old video games, which often provide simple extrinsic reward schemes based on points.
    — Quanta Magazine, 19 Sep. 2017
  • Common in the Ninth Circuit, the extrinsic test looks at comparison, context and, in a case like this, specific plot elements.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 3 Jan. 2026
  • These events are entirely extrinsic to the islanders and have, undoubtedly, devastating effects.
    — Fox News, 11 Feb. 2020
  • Although skills can be learned through both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, intrinsic learning often leads to deeper, more lasting knowledge.
    — Jenny Lehmann, Discover Magazine, 27 Mar. 2025
  • Womanhood is complex, nuanced, layered, and doesn’t require extrinsic validation from men—or other women.
    — Ashlee Marie Preston, Harper's BAZAAR, 8 Mar. 2021
  • Nonetheless, too many workplaces are organized around extrinsic rewards such as money, titles, team size, and proximity to power, which can spark effort in the short run but rarely sustain it.
    — Jon Rosemberg, Fortune, 9 Dec. 2025
  • Beginning to think maybe autoimmunity is not something intrinsic — something wrong with an individual’s body — but there’s an extrinsic force acting on it.
    — Isabella Cueto, STAT, 23 Oct. 2023
  • That’s where the balance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation comes in—gamification should enhance the inherent rewards of work rather than relying solely on badges, tokens and points.
    — Par Chadha, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'extrinsic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: