goads 1 of 2

noun

plural of goad
as in incentives
something that arouses action or activity the threat of skin cancer—not to mention the prospect of wrinkles—should be sufficient goad for using sunscreen

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

goads

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of goad
1
as in urges
to try to persuade (someone) through earnest appeals to follow a course of action tried to goad me into auditioning for the play

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in stabs
to urge or push forward with or as if with a pointed object goading the horse forward into the stall

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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 goads
Noun
To Robin Wright’s multimillionaire gallery owner Laura, her son’s new girlfriend is a sleazy opportunist, a gold digger who lies about her academic and professional credentials and goads Laura by going down on Daniel (Laurie Davidson) in Laura’s house with the door open. — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2025
Verb
When the two wind up at a random Easter brunch, Winfried goads Ines into karaoke. — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 20 Mar. 2026 The protagonist then goads him into drinking enough to agree to spending the afternoon at her lake house. — Megan McCluskey, Time, 5 Mar. 2026 Using her charm offensive, Hedda goads naive spouses to cheat, recovering alcoholics to drink and depressives to wander off into the darkness with a revolver. — Amy Nicholson, Twin Cities, 23 Oct. 2025 Dawn goads Joe about Ted, suggesting that Joe’s late father, who was also sheriff, would have taken action. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 5 Sep. 2025 Reynolds goads Miller by sending a photo of himself getting cozy with Sophia, and in a moment both lurid and laughable, the prisoner visualizes the two of them getting naked and going at it right outside the cell. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for goads
  1. incentives
  2. urges
  3. stabs
  4. encouragements
  5. encourages
  6. spurs
  7. impetuses
  8. pokes
Noun
  • Any federal tax credit worth passing should stack automatically on top of state incentives and apply the same regardless of whether a production files from Atlanta, Shreveport, or Burbank.
    — Sam Roseme, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2026
  • In July, California’s Public Utilities Commission approved new incentives of up to $20,300 for ride-hailing app drivers to buy or lease new zero-emission vehicles, and often now, ride hailers can choose to be picked up by an EV on the apps.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of incentives
Verb
  • The draft resolution urges tech platforms to engage with UN member states and regional organizations and adopt the more accurate projection.
    — Amarachi Orie, CNN Money, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Because rabies can be lethal, the Lebanon Police Department urges anyone who has been bitten or scratched by a wild animal to seek medical care immediately.
    — Julia Gomez, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of urges
Verb
  • But before Bane can finish him off, Batman stabs a Batarang into a little knob on Bane’s wrist gauntlet, the one that controls his intake of Venom.
    — Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 24 Aug. 2026
  • When Little Death stabs into their victim, there’s a geyser of blood, way more than could fit inside a human body.
    — Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of stabs
Noun
  • Many folks send encouragements toward OP mom and her son, while others put heat on the other parents for sexualizing their kids’ friendship.
    — DeVonne Goode, Parents, 26 July 2026
  • All through the park, competitors and onlookers hit vapes and shout tips and encouragements into trees.
    — Calin Van Paris, Outside, 19 Mar. 2026
Definition of encouragements
Verb
  • The bark can also be stripped from the branch, called girdling, which encourages faster root growth.
    — Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Mid-month, however, encourages you to indulge your creativity, rather than forcing big decisions.
    — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of encourages
Verb
  • This tender novel of intimacy and its risks begins in Boston in 1969, as Eve, a dancer, commences an affair with a colleague—an indiscretion that spurs her husband, a journalist named Gabe, to cheat, too.
    — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Correlation, after all, tends to be strongest when a sudden shock spurs investors to take risk off in tandem.
    — Sarah Min, CNBC, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of spurs
Noun
  • One of the main impetuses for this is that newer planes are flying further, which means airline routes are getting longer.
    — Jessica Puckett, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 June 2025
Definition of impetuses
Verb
  • Adults’s Gen-Z characters tend to see their comforts as transient, their identities as mutable, and seriousness as an annoying obligation, all of which the second season pokes at a bit.
    — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Even in the bathrooms, the toilet and bidet are concealed inside a kind of Travertine bench and the showerhead pokes out from a monolithic stone slab.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of pokes

Browse Nearby Words

goading
goads
go-ahead
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Cite this Entry

“Goads.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/goads. Accessed 7 Sep. 2026.

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