Definition of "single-minded" [sin•gle-mind•ed]

• Having one overriding purpose or goal: the single-minded pursuit of money. (adjective)
• Steadfast; resolute: He was single-minded in his determination to stop smoking. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "An accomplished pianist, he was described as a "single-minded" young man who had been shaken by the disappearance of his father, a doctor, during his childhood."
• "It represents a potential distraction, although any side capable of winning 13 games on the trot with a home ground as lacking in atmosphere as Vicarage Road can be described as single-minded."
• "The National Energy Act of 1978, which Carter pushed through Congress with single-minded intensity, tripled federal funding for solar energy research, created loans and tax credits for homeowners to insulate their homes and install renewable-energy heating and cooling systems, set national efficiency standards for electrical appliances, provided $100 million for schools, hospitals, and local governments to install energy-conservation technology, and imposed a gas-guzzler tax on inefficient vehicles to encourage gasoline conservation."