base motive

base motive

Motivation for some action or actions that is guided by selfishness or moral depravity. It is clear now that his decision to marry into her wealthy family was led purely by base motives. I don't believe the defendant had any base motives in this case. I think she was well-intentioned but naïve about the repercussions of her actions.
See also: base, motive
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • motive
  • marry below (one's) station
  • marry below (oneself)
  • in character
  • in/out of character
  • no good deed ever goes unpunished
  • unpunished
  • loaves and fishes
  • no good deed goes unpunished
  • No good deed goes unpunished.
References in periodicals archive
Thus, in his widely read book, Pax Americana, first published in 1967 during the Vietnam War, Ronald Steel wrote of "the benevolent imperialism of Pax Americana" characterized by "empire-building for noble ends rather than for such base motives as profit and influence." A chapter of Steel's book on foreign aid as an "element of imperialism" was entitled "The White Man's Burden," hearkening back to Rudyard Kipling's celebrated poem calling on the United States to exercise an imperialist role in the Philippines following the Spanish-American War of 1898.
A court ruled Armin Meiwes,a 42 year -old computer expert who met his victim on the internet,had no ''base motives'' -sparing him a possible murder conviction.
A court ruled that Armin Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer expert who met his victim on the internet, had no 'base motives' -sparing him a possible murder conviction.
A Kassel court ruled that Armin Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer expert who met his victim on the internet, had no "base motives" in the crime, sparing him a murder conviction.
The Duke of Northumberland, speaking exclusively to The Journal, defends himself from misinformed London-based critics who have divined all sorts of base motives in his decision to sell the Raphael masterpiece.
Because I view Harper's as unbalanced, however, I attribute to base motives its choice of genocide literature from France instead of the similar stories that have been collected by many American writers and agencies, most notably the 807-page book Leave None to Tell the Story (1999), put out by the American organization Human Rights Watch and written by historian Alison Des Forges.
KUGN will be widely suspected of base motives, but for listeners, Carlin for Savage is the best trade of the week.