goad
/ɡəʊd
/verb
1 [with object] Provoke or annoy (someone) so as to stimulate an action or reaction: he was trying to goad her into a fight...
- But in any issue, we should be prepared to think carefully, and not let our reaction to extremists goad us into overlooking any Biblical principles that apply.
- When I used to meet him regularly outside the Brompton Oratory after his Sunday devotions, it took little prompting to goad him into a diatribe against his latest enemy.
- I didn't realise that people would attempt to goad us into aggression at regular intervals.
Synonyms
provoke, spur, prick, sting, prod, egg on, hound, badger, incite, rouse, stir, move, stimulate, motivate, excite, inflame, work/fire up, impel, pressure, pressurize, dragoon, prompt, induce, encourage, urge, inspire
2 [with object and adverbial of direction] Drive (an animal) with a spiked stick: the cowboys goaded their cattle across the meadows
noun
1A spiked stick used for driving cattle.The Ripon report suggests widespread use of sticks and electric goads, and says that some animals had to be dragged into and out of trucks and lorries....
- These sort of things scare the cattle, and then you have to like do a lot of rough handling to get them to go by there, like a wad of electric goads.
- The spurs on the legs were goads; knee goads, ankle goads, and foot goads.
Synonyms
prod, spiked stick, spike, staff, crook, pole, rod;
Indian ankus
archaic prick
1.1A thing that stimulates someone into action: for him the visit was a goad to renewed effort...
- Assimilation properly channeled and exploited can thus become a kind of blessing, for assimilation bears within it a certain seminal power which serves as a challenge and a goad to renewed creativity.
- Second, Richmond promoted private enterprise with numerous official goads and incentives.
- But in the end, methodology was the real goad spurring on most of the participants.
Synonyms
stimulus, incentive, encouragement, stimulant, stimulation, inducement, fillip, impetus, impulse, spur, prod, prompt;
incitement;
motive, motivation
informal kick in the pants, kick up the backside, shot in the arm
Origin
Old English gād, of Germanic origin.