incentive
nounadjectiveattested in dialogue
- //ɪnˈsɛntɪv//
Something that motivates, rouses, or encourages.
noun
- 1
Something that motivates, rouses, or encourages.
I have no incentive to do housework right now.
It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].
- 2
A bonus or reward, often monetary, to work harder.
Management offered the sales team a $500 incentive for each car sold.
Etymology
From Medieval Latin incentīvus (“that strikes up or sets the tune”), from incinō (“to strike up”), from in- (“in, on”) + canō (“to sing”) + -ive. The formation appears to have been influenced by incendō (“to set on fire”).
adjective
- 1
Inciting; encouraging or moving; rousing to action; stimulating.
Competency is of all other proportions the most incentive to industry.
- 2
Serving to kindle or set on fire.
Part incentive reed / Provide, pernicious with one touch of fire.
Forms
- plural
- incentives
- comparative
- more incentive
- superlative
- most incentive
incentive · Something that motivates, rouses, or encourages.
incest · Sexual relations between close relatives, especially…inch · An English unit of length equal to 1/12 of a foot or 2.54 cm.Inch · A town in County Wexford, Ireland.