incentivize

English

Alternative forms

• incentivise (non-Oxford British English)

Etymology

From incentive +‎ -ize.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈsɛntɪvaɪz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

incentivize (third-person singular simple present incentivizes, present participle incentivizing, simple past and past participle incentivized) (American spelling, Oxford British English)

1. (transitive, business, economics) To provide incentives for; to encourage.

   The US government seeks to incentivize home ownership through a favorable tax system.

   • 2024 October 30, Ethan Lang, “Toronto council to consider rental development incentives”, in CBC.ca‎^[1]:

     City staff are recommending ways Toronto can incentivize the construction of 20,000 purpose-built rental homes.

2. (transitive, business, economics) To provide incentives to.

   They effectively incentivized people to overinvest in home ownership.

Usage notes

• Used relatively more than incent to refer to the use of systems of incentives.

Antonyms

• disincentivize

Derived terms

• incentivizer

Related terms

• incent

Translations

to provide incentives for (a behavior or action)

• German: begünstigen (de)
• Spanish: incentivar (es)

to provide incentives to (a person or organization)

• German: Anreize schaffen, belohnen (de)
• Spanish: incentivar (es)

Further reading

• “incentivize”, in Oxford Learner's Dictionaries