Meaning & use
incentive
Something that motivates or encourages a person to act in a particular way, often a reward.
See it in a sentence
The company offered a cash incentive to employees who referred qualified new hires.
Lower prices gave shoppers a strong incentive to buy the product before the sale ended.
A note on using this word
Incentive is often used with the preposition to, as in an incentive to work harder, or with for.
Words with a similar meaning
motivationinducement
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
deterrent
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