incentive, a. and n.
(ɪnˈsɛntɪv)
[ad. L. incentīv-us setting the tune, inciting, f. incinĕre: see incention. In sense 2, app. confounded with incensive, and other derivatives of L. incendĕre to kindle, set on fire.]
A. adj.
1. Having the quality of inciting or arousing to feeling or action; provocative, exciting.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1143 Pythia the Priestresse of Apollo, being once come downe from her three footed fabricke, upon which she receiveth that incentive spirit of furie, remaineth quiet. 1660 tr. Amyraldus' Treat. conc. Relig. i. vii. 109 Embellish'd with many beauties incentive of our Love. 1677 W. Hubbard Narrative Postscr. 10 Instances of this nature should be Incentive unto us, to bless the Father of Lights. a 1734 North Lives (1826) I. 371 The Lord Shaftesbury..made an incentive speech in the House of Lords. 1864 Reader No. 92. 405/2 Pleasing and incentive..to.. our mental faculties. 1866 Candlish 1 Ep. John ix. 104 It is a stimulus and incentive impulse. |
† 2. Having the property of kindling or setting on fire. Obs.
| 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 519 Part incentive reed Provide, pernicious with one touch to fire. 1708 J. Philips Cyder i. (Seager), The cavern'd ground, With grain incentive [gunpowder] stor'd, by sudden blaze Bursts fatal. |
3. Of or pertaining to a system of payments, concessions, etc., to encourage harder work or a particular choice of work.
| 1943 Reader's Digest Aug. 11/1 Mr. Charles E. Wilson..is urging war industries to adopt ‘incentive pay’—that is, to pay workers more if they produce more. 1948 Ann. Reg. 1947 283 In an effort to increase foreign trading various incentives were offered to exporters..a proportion of the foreign exchange..for the purchase of raw materials,..and ‘incentive’ goods for their workers. 1951 Engineering 2 Mar. 245/2 The body of the book is concerned with a description of the [‘Armstrong Merit Sharing’] scheme... A series of ‘requirements’ is laid down to which it is considered that any incentive scheme should conform. 1952 ‘Vigilans’ Chamber of Horrors 72 Incentive bonus, a bonus in advance as an encouragement, for workers, to work. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 272/1 For a substantial number of wage earners compensation is defined in terms not of time units but of output, under various types of incentive systems. Ibid. 272/2 The essential characteristic of an incentive wage rate structure is that payment depends on output rather than work time. 1967 G. F. Fiennes I tried to run Railway iv. 31 Work Study became synonymous with incentive payments. 1970 T. Lupton Managem. & Social Sci. (ed. 2) ii. 53 These controls were turned mainly to the manipulation of the incentive payment system. |
B. n.
1. [L. incentīvum.] Something that arouses feeling, or incites to action; an exciting cause or motive; an incitement, provocation, ‘spur’.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 5 The incentiue of manhode. 1612 Selden Illustr. Drayton's Poly-olb. vi. 97 A musicall incentiue to warre. 1638 Rouse Heav. Univ. i. (1702) 3 Let the Precepts and Patterns of Vertues..serve for Spurs and Incentives to Grace. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. (1848) 9 Incentives to inflame our hearts with Charity and Zeal. 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 50. 329 This Paper is principally designed as an Incentive to the Love of our Country. 1849 Miss Mulock Ogilvies viii, With men of Lynedon's character opposition is often the greatest incentive to love. |
2. An incentive payment, scheme, etc.
| 1948 [see adj. sense 3 above]. 1956 Hickman & Kuhn Individuals, Groups & Econ. Behavior ii. 50 Debate about this central question has hinged in large part on the issue of incentives. Ibid. 60 Gordon enumerates several nonfinancial incentives of some apparent importance, including power, prestige, and security. 1960 H. C. Wallich Cost of Freedom iii. 81 This leaves us with incentives in the narrower sense as the third element in the triad of forces upon which we rely to call forth initiative and effort. Ibid. 89 Labor and management performance is not the only place where we must look for the effects of incentives. |
Hence inˈcentively adv., incitingly.
| 1856 in Webster. |