Noun

(en noun)

Something that motivates, rouses, or encourages.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson

, volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].}}

A bonus or reward, often monetary, to work harder.

Noun

(head)

(stimulus)

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Noun

(stimuli)

(rfc-sense) Anything that may have an impact or influence on a system.

an economic stimulus

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times citation

, passage=Democrats, meanwhile, point out that Republicans seem to have made a conscious decision, beginning with the stimulus , to oppose anything the president put forward, dooming any chance of renewed cooperation between the parties.}}

(rfc-sense) (physiology) Something external that elicits or influences a physiological or psychological activity or response.

(rfc-sense) (psychology) Anything effectively impinging upon any of the sensory apparatuses of a living organism, including physical phenomena both internal and external to the body.

(rfc-sense) Anything that induces a person to take action.