incentivize

[ in-sen-ti-vahyz ]

verb (used with object)

, in·cen·ti·vized, in·cen·ti·viz·ing.

1. to give incentives to:

   The government should incentivize the private sector to create jobs.

incentivize

/ ɪnˈsɛntɪˌvaɪz /

verb

1. tr
   1. to provide (someone) with a good reason for wanting to do something

      why not incentivize companies to relocate?

   2. to promote (something) with a particular incentive

      an incentivized share option scheme

Word History and Origins

Origin of incentivize¹

An Americanism dating back to 1965–70

Example Sentences

So potentially had we incentivized people to have a more interesting conversation or to get as much information as they can, that would also potentially lead people to prefer sensitive questions over neutral ones.

From Freakonomics

Likewise, incentivize app users to rate and write reviews of your app on the store.

From Search Engine Watch

The union is requesting a better compensation structure that it says will incentivize experienced patrollers to stay with the company.

From Outside Online

The payments are incentivizing TikTok stars and regular people to post more videos to Snapchat, which was Snapchat’s aim, and proves that revenue remains key to the recipe for any platform trying to attract creators.

From Digiday

While incentivizing prospects to make a purchase is perhaps the most common strategy, it’s not always effective.

From Search Engine Watch

Their quarrel is with more recently formed verbs like incentivize.

From The Daily Beast

We need to incentivize local school districts to offer more advanced placement courses and more vocational and career training.

From The Daily Beast

You cannot engineer risk out of the system, or incentivize it away; it's baked into the cake.

From The Daily Beast

Can we use student loan forgiveness as a way to incentivize bright young people to enter particular fields?

From The Daily Beast

But we can extrapolate from previous experience that decapitation does incentivize Hamas to ease up on its attacks.

From The Daily Beast

Related Words

• encourage
• motivate