goad

[ gohd ]

/ goʊd /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR goad ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a stick with a pointed or electrically charged end, for driving cattle, oxen, etc.; prod.

anything that pricks or wounds like such a stick.

something that encourages, urges, or drives; a stimulus.

verb (used with object)

to prick or drive with, or as if with, a goad; prod; incite.

Nearby words

go-train, go/no-go, goa, goa powder, goa, daman, and diu, goad, goaf, goal, goal area, goal crease, goal kick

Origin of goad

before 900; Middle English gode, Old English gād; compare Langobardic gaida spearhead

SYNONYMS FOR goad

4 spur, push, impel.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR goad ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

goad·like, adjectiveun·goad·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for goad

Maybe the public display of pro-Gaddafi sentiments acts as a goad for the killings.
Libya Is Still Riven by Violence as Loyalists and Rebels Alike Keep Killing|Jamie Dettmer|July 12, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Social and cultural insecurity has also served as a goad to Mormon productivity and achievement.
Mormons Rock!|Walter Kirn|June 5, 2011|DAILY BEAST
He knew how to improvise, how to lead a fellow actor into a state of mind, how to goad them into their best performances.
John Cazale, A Godfather of Acting|Gina Piccalo|May 31, 2010|DAILY BEAST
All this shows clearly enough what pressure he means to put upon Prussia—that is to say, how much he intends to gall and goad her.
Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. II (of II)|Edmund Downey

Frederick ordered wine and continued to goad his mind into activity.
Atlantis|Gerhart Hauptmann
Then they showed him the ox's goad wherewith Shamgar slew six hundred men.
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan|John Bunyan
His character was tried besides, not only with the bait of covetousness, but with the goad of fear.
The Confessions of Saint Augustine|Saint Augustine
One of the names that it has borne in English is goad; but most of our rods would be extravagantly long goads.
Domesday Book and Beyond|Frederic William Maitland

British Dictionary definitions for goad

goad

/ (ɡəʊd) /

noun

a sharp pointed stick for urging on cattle, etc

anything that acts as a spur or incitement

verb

(tr) to drive with or as if with a goad; spur; incite

Derived Forms

goadlike, adjective

Word Origin for goad

Old English gād, of Germanic origin, related to Old English gār, Old Norse geirr spear

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012