Did you perhaps mean invent?
Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To incentivize: "would use tax breaks to incent corporations to invest in their future” ( Scott Canon).
Wiktionary
Etymologies
- Back-formation from incentive. (Wiktionary)
- Back-formation from incentive. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The word incent represents an appalling abuse of the English language.”
“My brother, who teaches high school in a Chicago suburb, recently told me that his school board is now throwing around the word "incent," as in "we want to incent our students to optimize their educational outcomes.”
“Now that people have had a few (small) doses of Arnespeak (like "incent" as a verb), it's time to get ready for the full foulness of the programs.”
“I can "incent" my students to know enough to pass just about any test, but mastery requires time, effort, and love.”
“I share your disdain for stupid diction, and "incent" is certainly among the stupider.”
“Sorry, but "incent" is a useful word, which is why it's not going away any time soon.”
“Richard: Thanks for pointing me to her; I just read her eminently sensible column on the verb "incent" and I think I'll add her to the sidebar.”
“First, in this hyperpartisan age, I extend my hand across the aisle to Brett Bellmore (whose politics seem to be different than mine) to form a bi-partisan movement to denounce the use of "incent" and even "incentivize," and to encourage the use of "encourage" and similar real and less ugly words.”
“: However, I should point out that the word "incent" is back-formed from, "incentivize," isn't recognized by VC's built-in spell-checker either.”
“No kidding....no college progrma to keep in shape, no combines to keep them in shape....these kids could end up w/o anyone to "incent" them to stay in shap but themselves, and we've all seen atheletes fail under that structure.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘incent’.
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WF - list of EN back-formations
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_back-formations
aborigine, accrete, acculturate, admix, admixture, adolesce, adsorb, adulate, advect, aesthete, air-condition, anticline and 212 more...
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Cringeworthy Words and Phrases Encoun...
Don't get me wrong: I like my job. I like everyone I work with too, but not all of them are word lovers, and many of them abuse the language in ways that hurt me. I'm stashing them here so that p...
architected, beveraged, on the same sheet..., moving forward, incent, utilize, its', needless to say, right behind left..., brand equity, throughput, impactful and 7 more...
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vozcelik's Words
cranny, tummy, nook, sinister, cajole, frugal, chafe, wimp, booger, patriarchy, indifference, mire and 162 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3255 more...
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robynnew's list
words I hate
Tweets
Looking for tweets for incent.
leaden See also “Words that MUST BE DESTROYED”. Oct 16, 2011
bilby Wasn't this worth the visit?
"Either I'm too high or this incent smells like pussy”
@CStylezDaFuture Oct 16, 2011
yarb This vile word incentses me. Oct 16, 2011
bilby "Producers were scrambling to keep up with skyrocketing demand, and it is unclear how much incremental supply the subsidies really incented."
- unclear source, quoted by Giles Parkinson in The great big subsidy myth, climatespectator.com.au, 10 Oct 2011. Oct 16, 2011
middlesmith I actually hate this verb more than I hate incentivize. May 22, 2009