as in incentive
something given or promised in order to improperly influence a person's conduct or decision
that judge refused a huge bribe to dismiss the charges against the wealthy defendant
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in to lure
to influence someone with a bribe
meat inspectors were bribed, and the contaminated beef was sold to the public
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of bribe
Angie Dimichele, Sun Sentinel, 22 Jan. 2026
In an indictment that became public Thursday, four former DePaul players were alleged to have taken thousands of dollars in bribes to purposely underperform in the first halves of three Big East games during the 2023-24 season.
—Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 20 Jan. 2026
Ross O'Keefe, The Washington Examiner, 16 Jan. 2026
Some kids run at the sound of running water in the bathtub; others need to be bribed just to look at a vegetable.
—Elisabeth Sherman, Parents, 16 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for bribe
Noun
The marketers who were paid kickbacks and bribes used telemedicine companies in order to obtain doctors’ orders, many of which were written by doctors who did not have an existing relationship with the beneficiaries.
—Angie Dimichele, Sun Sentinel, 22 Jan. 2026
In an indictment that became public Thursday, four former DePaul players were alleged to have taken thousands of dollars in bribes to purposely underperform in the first halves of three Big East games during the 2023-24 season.
—Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 20 Jan. 2026
Verb
College basketball players were bribed to throw games and enrich sports gamblers during a recent period from September 2022 to February of last year.
—Ross O'Keefe, The Washington Examiner, 16 Jan. 2026
Some kids run at the sound of running water in the bathtub; others need to be bribed just to look at a vegetable.
—Elisabeth Sherman, Parents, 16 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for bribe
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bribe
Noun
-
The official boundaries of the new stadium incentive district have not yet been finalized.—
Matthew Kelly,
Kansas City Star,
8 Jan. 2026
-
The grocer will also receive a $50,000 retailer incentive bonus.—
Ingrid Vasquez,
PEOPLE,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Miami is rumored to be interested in his services, and the Hurricanes are no strangers to shelling out lucrative deals to lure top passers.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
24 Jan. 2026
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Even the name Greenland taps into antiquity thanks to Erik the Red, who was banished here in 982, found a sheltered, green fjord to call home, and named the place Greenland, an embellishment to lure other Norsemen west.—
Tim Neville,
Outside,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
No amount of reporting fixes that gap.—
Melissa Houston,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
-
This comes after the Chinese central bank guided the yuan daily fix past the key 7 per dollar threshold last week.—
Marcus Wong,
Bloomberg,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
More than 5,000 people have bought it at Amazon and given it high ratings.—
Kristine Hansen,
Travel + Leisure,
12 Jan. 2026
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A lot of schools are running black and gold days on Monday, so local people are coming in, and travelers are buying stuff to wear to the game.—
Jessica Riley,
CBS News,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
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This suggests the presence of an internal, self-evolving latent variable—independent of external stimuli—that shapes the timing structure of motivation and decision-making.—
Matt Emma,
USA Today,
24 Jan. 2026
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Feland adds that the additional gravitational load gives an extra stimulus for the bone to build more tissue in people who don’t get that through weight-bearing exercise or resistance training.—
Jennifer Heimlich,
Time,
23 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Consani grew up in the Bay Area and can pinpoint the exact moment the world of high fashion seduced her.—
Derek C. Blasberg,
Vanity Fair,
19 Jan. 2026
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Stroheim himself plays the villain, one Lieutenant Eric von Steuben, who meets a vacationing American woman at an Alpine resort and tries to seduce her under the nose of her neglectful husband.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
17 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Recognition events and incentive programs reinforced status and motivation.—
Paula de la Cruz,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
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But her motivation, actions, and payoff are fundamentally different from those of her archetypical brothers and sisters.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Jan. 2026
Verb
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An Associated Press investigation found that unwitting Bangladeshi workers were enticed to Russia under the false promise of civilian work before being thrown into combat in Ukraine.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
28 Jan. 2026
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By promoting the procedure as not just a facelift add-on, but an alternative to lip filler, surgeons broadened its appeal, enticing younger generations who were growing tired of injections—the artificial aesthetic, the migration, the maintenance.—
Jolene Edgar,
Allure,
27 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bribe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bribe. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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