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:
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
The measure could incentivize lawmakers to save more money because funds tucked away in the rainy day fund would no longer be considered expenditures counted toward the spending limit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
The idea of guaranteeing future demand to incentivize innovation was borrowed from vaccine development.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
Among other provisions, the bill would make it easier to build and finance manufactured homes, reduce builder regulations and use grants to incentivize home development.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
It incentivized competition in part by dangling more than $500,000 in prize money for each player on the winning team.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 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
But you have to then also realize that of course management teams are highly incentivized not to take risks with their reputations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Unlike Anthropic and OpenAI, which Kharazian said are incentivized to make users spend as much as possible on tokens, Cursor allows users to toggle between smarter but more expensive models and cheaper alternatives.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 19, 2026
Those headlines attracted the kind of crowd more interested in drama than the fights themselves, which in turn incentivized more drama: a spiral that eventually changed the feel of the entire sport.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026
By incentivizing the purchase of a new electric vehicle, that will encourage new production, which means more EVs on the road.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner’s Workers’ Rights Bill in 2025 had the unintended effect of discouraging employers from making permanent hires and instead incentivizing them to take workers on as sub-contractors.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 15, 2026
By doing these things you are incentivizing him to behave more badly in the future.
From Slate ● Apr. 15, 2026
Higher aluminum prices outside of China are also incentivizing producers there to export more, which mitigates some of the global supply risks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
Companies: The Federal Reserve prepared rule changes incentivizing banks to originate mortgages.
From Barron's ● Feb. 21, 2026
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.
