incentive
Americannoun
adjective
noun
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a motivating influence; stimulus
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an additional payment made to employees as a means of increasing production
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( as modifier )
an incentive scheme
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adjective
Synonym Usage
See motive.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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counterincentivenoun
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preincentivenoun
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superincentivenoun
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nonincentiveadjective
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incentivelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of incentive
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Late Latin incentīvus “provocative,” in Latin: “setting the tune,” from incent(us) “played” (past participle of incinere “to play (an instrument, tunes),” from in- in- 2 + -cinere, combining form of canere “to sing”) + -īvus -ive
Explanation
If your mom wants you to mow the lawn but you don't feel like it, she might offer to treat you to ice cream after as an incentive. An incentive is something that stimulates you to take action or work harder. This noun dates back to Middle English, from Late Latin incentivum, from incentivus, "stimulating." In Latin, incentivus meant "setting the tune," from incinere, "to sing." The related English verb is incentivize. The less common verb incent was first used in the early 1980s, and has been criticized as business jargon.
Vocabulary lists containing incentive
Fast Food Nation
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This Week in Words: November 3 - 9, 2018
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This Week in Words: February 5 - 9, 2018
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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.
Providing a greater incentive to enroll in autopay could help mitigate those challenges.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 18, 2026
Housing activists and landlords alike acknowledge that there is some housing that the market has little incentive to provide.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 17, 2026
VPN providers and privacy experts say doing so would mean having to collect user data to carry out checks, and negate privacy as the incentive for using them.
From BBC • Jun. 16, 2026
I’ve read that pretty much every county in America has a military base, so everybody has an incentive to keep them running.
From Salon • Jun. 15, 2026
The typical economist believes the world has not yet invented a problem that he cannot fix if given a free hand to design the proper incentive scheme.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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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.