goad

[ gohd ]

See synonyms for: goad goaded goading 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.

Origin of goad

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

Other words for goad

4	spur, push, impel

See synonyms for goad on Thesaurus.com

Other words from goad

goad·like, adjective
un·goad·ed, adjective

Words Nearby goad

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use goad in a sentence

Thus began Johns’s career-long fascination with signs and symbols — not as a subject for representation, but as a goad to pure painting.
Seeing Jasper Johns: Blockbuster exhibition reveals a brilliant but bleak legacy | Philip Kennicott | September 29, 2021 | Washington Post
He had no choice but to take up the goad and to do what he did.
Daniel Menaker, author and celebrated editor at the New Yorker and Random House, dies at 79 | Harrison Smith | October 29, 2020 | Washington Post
Experts and politicians goad the White House on with demands for tough actions against Russia that they surely know will fail.
Cut the Baloney on Ukraine | Leslie H. Gelb | March 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
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 | THE DAILY BEAST
Paul, by talking up his isolationism, would goad Romney into sounding like Dick Cheney.
Michael Tomasky: Why Iowa Is Mitt Romney’s Do-or-Die Moment | Michael Tomasky | January 2, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST

Social and cultural insecurity has also served as a goad to Mormon productivity and achievement.
Mormons Rock! | Walter Kirn | June 5, 2011 | THE 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 | THE DAILY BEAST
Egypt is like a fair and beautiful heifer: there shall come from the north one that shall goad her.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version | Various
He called to her, he rallied her; he signalled to Thyrsis to help him—to inspire her, to goad her to new endurance.
Love's Pilgrimage | Upton Sinclair
The mahout reached down with his silver tipped goad and touched the elephant on the knee.
The Adventures of Kathlyn | Harold MacGrath
The mahout, fully awake to the danger, beat the old rascal mightily with his goad.
The Adventures of Kathlyn | Harold MacGrath
In his hand he carried a long-handled ox-whip, with a short goad in the butt of it.
Earth's Enigmas | Charles G. D. Roberts

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

Origin of goad

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

Derived forms of goad

goadlike, adjective

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

Browse