INCENTIVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does incentive mean? 

• INCENTIVE (noun)
  The noun INCENTIVE has 2 senses:

1. a positive motivational influence

2. an additional payment (or other remuneration) to employees as a means of increasing output

  Familiarity information: INCENTIVE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INCENTIVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A positive motivational influence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting goals

Synonyms:

incentive; inducement; motivator

Hypernyms ("incentive" is a kind of...):

rational motive (a motive that can be defended by reasoning or logical argument)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "incentive"):

dynamic; moral force (an efficient incentive)

Antonym:

disincentive (a negative motivational influence)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An additional payment (or other remuneration) to employees as a means of increasing output

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

bonus; incentive

Hypernyms ("incentive" is a kind of...):

payment (a sum of money paid or a claim discharged)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "incentive"):

premium (a prize, bonus, or award given as an inducement to purchase products, enter competitions initiated by business interests, etc.)

dividend (a bonus; something extra (especially a share of a surplus))

sales incentive (remuneration offered to a salesperson for exceeding some predetermined sales goal)

Holonyms ("incentive" is a part of...):

incentive program; incentive scheme (a formal scheme for inducing someone (as employees) to do something)

 Context examples 

These incentives promote the development and manufacturing of such therapeutics, which otherwise might not be profitable because of the small potential market.

(Orphan Drug, NCI Thesaurus)

A category of psychiatric disorders which are characterized by physical or psychological symptoms that are intentionally produced in order to assume the sick role; there is no external incentive for the behavior, such as economic gain or avoiding legal responsibility, and the person is unaware of any self-motivating factors.

(Factitious Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)

Bahia has become the seventh Brazilian state to redlist endangered species for protection, a move that has been welcomed as an important incentive for initiatives and policies that could avert the threats to these species.

(Over 300 animal species threatened in Bahia, Agência Brasil)

The study has exposed the need to engage society in deforestation controls with a new command and control framework for projects, a positive agenda of incentives to production efficiencies in existing deforested areas, and better support for protecting one's forest assets, as well as a larger role of business and banks in anti-deforestation controls.

(Amazon lost 7,989 km² of forest in 12 months, Agência Brasil)