Incentive
Incentive noun - Something that arouses action or activity.
Usage example: the handsome reward for the missing dog was an incentive for me to start looking
Reason
Reason noun - Something (as a belief) that serves as the basis for another thing.
Usage example: a firm belief that we are here on earth to help others is the reason for her tireless volunteer work
Incentive is a synonym for reason in intention topic. You can use "Incentive" instead a noun "Reason", if it concerns topics such as motive, aim, cause, objective.
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
How words are described
| good | good incentive | good reason |
| clear | clear incentive | clear reason |
| best | best incentive | best reason |
| particular | particular incentive | particular reason |
| Other adjectives: better, similar, initial, single, obvious, strong, actual, entire, real, big, huge, little, main, personal, major, possible, less, biggest. | ||
Both words in one sentence
- The reason for this is pretty simple: Fanfiction writers have no incentive to work beyond their own personal enjoyment.
Source: Schedule Slip / Fanfic -
This is one reason candidates have an incentive to favor rhetoric over actual policy proposals.
Source: Fandom Rivalry -
Sherlock, with all his Berserk Buttons pressed, with no reason to let Magnussen live and all the incentive to kill him, proceeds to blow the man's brains out.
Source: Series / Sherlock
Cite this Source
Reason and Incentive. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/incentive/reason
Incentive & Reason. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/incentive/reason>.
Reason or Incentive. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/incentive/reason.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "incentive" and "reason" have occurred on timeline