incentivize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Etymology
Origin of incentivize
An Americanism dating back to 1965–70
Explanation
To incentivize is to provide a reward or motivation for some action. Your teacher might incentivize the class by offering jelly beans to everyone who aces the next math quiz. Incentivize was first used in around 1970 as business jargon, and some still consider it to be annoying corporate lingo. It’s a legitimate word, though, made into a verb by adding -ize to incentive, which means "something that motivates or encourages." You might incentivize your dog to sit by giving her a treat every time she does it, or incentivize your brother to do your chores by offering him half your allowance as payment.
Vocabulary lists containing incentivize
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.
See Examples For:
The effort is meant to incentivize Goldman’s units to steer business to each other and has boosted revenue across the firm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Kalshi co-founder Luana Lopes Lara said in an interview with the Journal that it’s not uncommon for exchanges to try to draw large traders into new markets to incentivize broader adoption.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
It also stacks an additional $15,000 credit for each new hire, to incentivize expanding journalist head counts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
I’m kidding: Even under normal circumstances, giving private companies this much power is likely to incentivize inventing enemies to fight or drive unnecessary spending.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
Japan has a reputation as an exporter of investment capital, and higher domestic yields can incentivize private Japanese investors, like pension plans and insurance companies, to seek investments closer to home.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
Because advisers profit from gains but bear no downside risk, they would be incentivized to chase high returns and push investors into riskier investments.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
This update incentivized lengthy carousels of multi-image posts, especially with some educational content attached that encourages viewer engagement via swipes or saves.
From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2026
Weary of venomous snake bites, British authorities put a bounty on dead cobras — but this only incentivized locals to breed more of the snakes, in order to collect even more reward money.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
The number of shoot days from incentivized productions is slowly growing, but Los Angeles’ on-location filming is still down compared to last year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
“If companies are expected to support the state to protect critical infrastructure, they need to be incentivized to do that,” Heit said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
The organization has faced criticism for incentivizing schools to be highly selective and focus on admitting students already likely to succeed instead of working to improve students’ outcomes.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
“They are incentivizing companies to capitalize on what is going on in the Gulf,” Quilliam said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
She supports expanding clean transit options, incentivizing employers to adopt flexible work policies to reduce commute emissions, deploying smart traffic technology and giving small businesses tiered time lines and tax credits to transition.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
By doing these things you are incentivizing him to behave more badly in the future.
From Slate ● Apr. 15, 2026
Each device integrates with another, incentivizing the user to buy more than one Apple product after entering the company’s sticky ecosystem.
From Barron's ● Mar. 31, 2026
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
