incent

in·cent
I1N1C3E1N1T1
/ɪnˈsɛnt/

verb

To provide an incentive to (a person or organization).

“We need to incent more innovation.”

UncommonScrabble 8

Meanings

verbincent (third-person singular simple present incents, present participle incenting, simple past and past participle incented)

present singular third person incents · participle present incenting · participle past incented · past incented

  1. UStransitiveTo provide an incentive to (a person or organization).

    We need to incent people to innovate more.

    4 more examples

    We try to incent people to do it earlier, which levels the load.

    2007 February 24, Damon Darlin, “At Intuit, What Comes After Taxes?”, in New York Times

    HUD programs to incent owners to maintain affordable housing units have preserved over 3,500 projects with about 300,000 units.

    2009 July 15, Shelley Moore Capito, Legislative Options for Preserving Federally- and State-assisted Affordable Housing and Preventing Displacement of Low-income, Elderly, and Disabled Tenants, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Financial Services. Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, page 4

    incent investors to manage assets with a long-term perspective

    2010 June 24, Al Gore, David Blood, “Toward Sustainable Capitalism”, in Wall Street Journal

    Whether it’s a sense of companionship or the promise of elicit conversations that border on phone sex, users are incented to grow closer and closer to their avatar (and, ultimately, to buy a physical body for them, something Jackie hinted at on a couple of occasions).

    2017 August 17, Ry Crist, “Dawn of the sexbots”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), CNET
  2. UStransitiveTo provide an incentive for (something).

    We need to incent more innovation.

    1 more example

    DUNCAN: The more we can reward excellence, the more we can incent excellence, the more we can get our best teachers to work in those hard to staff schools

    2009 January 13, Arne Duncan, “Duncan Lays Out Positions in Confirmation Hearing”, in WBEZ Chicago Public Radio

Origin

Translations

Czech motivovat, stimulovat
  • motivovatto provide an incentive to (a person or organization)
  • stimulovatto provide an incentive to (a person or organization)
  • poskytnout pobídkuto provide an incentive to (a person or organization)
German Anreize schaffen
  • Anreize schaffento provide an incentive to (a person or organization)
Russian стимули́ровать, побужда́ть
  • стимули́ровать (stimulírovatʹ)to provide an incentive to (a person or organization)
  • побужда́ть (pobuždátʹ)to provide an incentive to (a person or organization)
  • побуди́ть (pobudítʹ)to provide an incentive to (a person or organization)
  • поощря́ть (pooščrjátʹ)to provide an incentive to (a person or organization)
  • поощри́ть (pooščrítʹ)to provide an incentive to (a person or organization)

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with incent

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Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

incent. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incent

MLA

“incent.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incent. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “incent,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incent.

Source: incent on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.