instigations

noun

plural of instigation
1
as in excitements
something that arouses a strong response from another without instigation of any kind, the man suddenly threw a punch

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in incentives
something that arouses action or activity the promise of windfall profits was all the instigation they needed to invest in the scheme

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for instigations
  1. encouragements
  2. incentives
  3. impetuses
  4. motivations
Noun
  • All through the park, competitors and onlookers hit vapes and shout tips and encouragements into trees.
    — Calin Van Paris, Outside, 19 Mar. 2026
  • In October 2024 ahead of her own stay at MSG, Billie Eilish recorded encouragements to take the subways for environmental benefits.
    — Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 30 Oct. 2025
Definition of encouragements
Noun
  • Only 25% of production houses supported by the FDC or tax incentives have returned for a second project, leaving 75% unable to build long-term capacity.
    — Anna Marie de la Fuente, Variety, 11 July 2026
  • While the threshold sparked debate, the decree offers financial incentives for parties to merge by discounting registration fees for coalitions and alliances.
    — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 10 July 2026
Definition of incentives
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
Noun
  • One of the early motivations was reportedly to prevent Google from getting a monopoly over AI.
    — Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 13 July 2026
  • With the salary cap inching, rather than leaping, upwards, those motivations have only become stronger.
    — Lev Akabas, Sportico.com, 9 July 2026
Definition of motivations
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.

Browse Nearby Words

instigation
instigations
instigative
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Instigations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/instigations. Accessed 15 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on instigations

Nglish: Translation of instigations for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 10
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
banana-mirrored
Contradictory Words Quiz Pick out which word means one thing…and the opp...
See All