GOADED Synonyms: 61 Similar and Opposite Words

goaded

verb

past tense of goad

as in urged

to try to persuade (someone) through earnest appeals to follow a course of action tried to goad me into auditioning for the play

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in spurred

to urge or push forward with or as if with a pointed object goading the horse forward into the stall

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of goaded Garrett, the best defensive player of the post-Aaron Donald era, fittingly goaded the legend out of retirement. — Jeff Howe, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026 Or Pablo Picasso, goaded into radicalism by the latest bizarre creations of Matisse, retreating to the Spanish mountain village of Gósol and, mere months later, beginning work on his proto-cubist masterpiece, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. — Sebastian Smee, The Atlantic, 27 Aug. 2026 The architect of the program’s revitalization will not be goaded into predictions or promises. — Miami Herald, 16 Aug. 2026 Anthony provoked and goaded Metcalf, Wirskye said. — Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 June 2026 In the ensuing chaos, one of those two young men takes the stage, goaded on by his friend, and soon has the audience dancing to his melodies and words. — Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 22 May 2026 He was mocked and goaded by Callum Newman into attacking Shingo Takagi after Newman retained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 7 May 2026 The czar, goaded by his military advisors, mobilized the Russian army knowing that meant war. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 18 Mar. 2026 Her ups and downs were a regular punch line on late-night talk shows, starting with her first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1985, when she was goaded into agreeing to lose 15 lbs. — Eileen Finan, PEOPLE, 30 Dec. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for goaded

Verb

Residents and visitors have been urged to closely monitor the weather and the watches or warnings as Lowell approaches the islands, the hurricane center said.

— Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 8 Sep. 2026
Ahmed Abdullahi, chair of the Council of Governors, last week urged nurses to call off their strike and give the government time for negotiations.

— ABC News, ABC News, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of urged

Verb

The oversight hearing underscored Patel’s turbulent tenure, from shouting matches with lawmakers and blended leisure travel to allegations of excessive drinking that spurred calls for his removal and a massive defamation suit.

— Eric Tucker, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2026
The heat common to all these ideas would have spurred chemical reactions along.

— Sarah Scoles, Scientific American, 15 Sep. 2026

Definition of spurred

Verb

Bonino said that during their conversations Francis always encouraged her to bring forward her humanitarian battles, defending those most in need.

— ABC News, ABC News, 11 Sep. 2026
His warning was meant for American eyes and ears at least as much — if not more so — than for the government in Jerusalem that until now has encouraged the hoodlums by tolerating their violence.

— Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of encouraged

Verb

Two years later, Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman were found stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles home.

— Stephanie Nolasco, FOXNews.com, 7 Sep. 2026
Up to this point, Ghostface victims have been stabbed with Buck 120 hunting knives, crushed by garage doors, shot, electrocuted, and thrown off rooftops in ferocious, balls-to-the-wall Scream fashion.

— Michael Lee Simpson, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Sep. 2026

Definition of stabbed

Verb

Officials also nudged up their expectations for inflation this year.

— Jeff Cox, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2026
Miley Cyrus, open-mouthed, nudged Kerry Washington as the woman in spangles swept by—this was red-carpet clothing, flashbulb clothing, clothing to be seen in once rather than excavated annually from a closet of perennials.

— Lauren Collins, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026

Definition of nudged

Verb

Better together Industry analysts, experts and insiders have consistently poked holes in the states' argument that the combination of TV networks would create antitrust issues.

— Lillian Rizzo, CNBC, 24 Aug. 2026
So too were the buildings, including my hotel, which poked through the seven-foot-high snowbanks, looking like an ancient shipwreck covered in shifting sand.

— Adam H. Graham, Condé Nast Traveler, 24 Aug. 2026

Definition of poked

Verb

One punched him in the face, and another stabbed him once in the buttocks, police said.

— Jesse Zanger, CBS News, 14 Sep. 2026
After the Giants punched their ticket by sweeping two games from the Ports, Haines confirmed that Flora would take the ball one more time in next week’s best-of-3 series against Lake Elsinore.

— Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of punched

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goad

goaded

goading

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“Goaded.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/goaded. Accessed 17 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of goaded

verb

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