goad
Americannoun
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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)
noun
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a sharp pointed stick for urging on cattle, etc
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anything that acts as a spur or incitement
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of goad
before 900; Middle English gode, Old English gād; compare Langobardic gaida spearhead
Explanation
A goad is a pointy stick or other instrument used to prod something along. To goad is to poke something with that pointy stick. Either way, the pointiness is really essential for making things leap into action. Originally spelled gad, meaning “spearhead,” goad first came into use as a verb in the 1570s. But say you left your pointy goading stick at home. Have no fear! You can goad people with words, too. Literally or figuratively, a goad prods and pokes and provokes people into doing something. A sheep herder might hustle his flock along with a goad, just as your mom's constant nagging and goading might finally get you sit up straight at the dinner table.
Vocabulary lists containing goad
Lord of the Flies
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Grade 11, List 2
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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The economy lacks other spurs to goad it into faster growth.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 9, 2026
However, “markets typically test those levels to goad the MOF into action,” the analyst adds.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
Tommy Lasorda had to goad Hershiser into becoming a bulldog.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 24, 2025
As they goad each other, they act pettily and childishly but is also great fun to watch the superb actors go toe-to-toe.
From Salon • Nov. 10, 2024
An imaginative experimentalist who had been skeptical of Lawrence’s deuteron theory, Kurie proposed to Cooksey that they goad Yale into building a cyclotron to rival Berkeley’s—and to do better work.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
