Meaning & use
incentivized
Last updated
“incentivized” is a form of “incentivize”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitivebusiness
Gave someone a reward or benefit to make them more likely to act in a certain way.
Grammar: Past tense and past participle of incentivize; takes an object: the firm incentivized workers.
Patterns
- incentivize someone to do something
- incentivize something
The company incentivized staff to finish early with a bonus.
The government incentivized solar panels with tax credits.
Shops incentivized shoppers with discount coupons.
adjectivecomparablebusiness
Motivated by a reward or benefit that encourages a particular behavior.
Grammar: Often after a verb: employees are incentivized to save.
Patterns
- be incentivized to do something
Incentivized employees often work harder.
Customers felt incentivized to switch after the free trial.
Word forms
| base form | incentivize |
|---|---|
| third person singular | incentivizes |
| past tense | incentivized |
| -ing form | incentivizing |
Common combinations
- incentivized to
- Workers were incentivized to meet the target.
- incentivized by money
- The salespeople were incentivized by commission.
- incentivize behavior
- Taxes can incentivize behavior change.
- financially incentivized
- Farmers were financially incentivized to plant trees.
- incentivize customers
- Stores incentivize customers with loyalty cards.
Synonyms and how they differ
- motivate
- Motivate is broader and can come from inner drive, while incentivize implies an external reward.
- encourage
- Encourage is gentler and need not involve a reward.
- reward
- Reward comes after the action, while incentivize is offered beforehand.
- entice
- Entice suggests attracting someone with something tempting, often slightly manipulative.
Opposites
Word family
- incentive noun
- something that encourages action
- incentivize verb
- to provide incentives
- incentivization noun
- the process of offering incentives
- disincentive noun
- something that discourages action
Commonly confused: incentivized or incentivised?
incentivized vs incentivised
Incentivised is the British spelling of the same word.
Practice
The airline ____ passengers to give up their seats by offering free flights.
Choose one answer.
Incentivized means offered a reward to change behavior, which matches free flights. The other verbs do not involve rewards.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “incentivized”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.