How to Use disincentive in a Sentence

disincentive

noun
  • The complicated application process was a disincentive to volunteering our time.
  • We considered volunteering, but the complicated application process was a disincentive.
  • That ensures the underwriting banks have skin in the game and gives them a disincentive to price sales too high.
    — Washington Post, 18 Sep. 2019
  • Pet owners must pay for most of these steps, which can be a further disincentive.
    — Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 20 Jan. 2025
  • The engagement ring, in fact, could be seen as a disincentive to marry.
    — Time, 28 June 2023
  • The 30% levy hits top earners who take their assets out of France, which as Mr. Macron rightly says is a disincentive to invest in France in the first place.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 2 May 2018
  • The company would also build a railroad along the wall as a further disincentive to try to cross it.
    — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, 5 Apr. 2017
  • Another consideration: the lower the rate, the greater the disincentive there is for the bank to loan out money in the first place.
    — Erik Sherman, Fortune, 12 Sep. 2019
  • But the new rules would be a disincentive to responsible people who would like to keep bees.
    — Kevin Riordan, Philly.com, 4 Feb. 2018
  • Tough driving disincentives and bold transit options are nowhere in all the Ford Site planning to date.
    — Letter Writers, Twin Cities, 21 Nov. 2019
  • If everyone gets a free pass, then that makes fools of those who followed the law and acts as a disincentive to anyone doing so in the future.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 10 Sep. 2024
  • This year’s report is the latest in a series of reports on work disincentives dating back to 2008.
    — Michael Bernick, Forbes, 17 Dec. 2024
  • By contrast, new VPSOs must leave their hometowns for a block of training that lasts two months or more, a strong disincentive.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 21 Dec. 2019
  • What may well have been a sincere desire to help people in a time of need translated into a disincentive to go back to work.
    — Nihal Krishan, Washington Examiner, 19 Nov. 2020
  • That means people who would like to buy a home in an expensive market may encounter a tax disincentive to do so.
    — Sarah Skidmore Sell and Ken Sweet, Houston Chronicle, 23 Dec. 2017
  • In the worst-case scenario, tax credits create disincentives to work.
    — Veronique De Rugy, Twin Cities, 16 Oct. 2024
  • Deadlines and a combination of incentives to change and disincentives to stick with the old.
    — Zak Doffman, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2025
  • Its basic premise is that traffic can be reduced by charging a fee or toll at peak hours that would serve as a disincentive to drivers.
    — Winnie Hu and Vivian Wang, New York Times, 19 Jan. 2018
  • Pallets have a special disincentive for most kinds of recycling because they're made of both hard and soft wood.
    — Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 27 July 2021
  • Pallets have a special disincentive for most kinds of recycling because they’re made of both hard and soft wood.
    — Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 26 Apr. 2021
  • Byrne said the Bureau's mishandling of a tip could even be a disincentive for potential tipsters in the future.
    — Lawrence Specker, AL.com, 19 Feb. 2018
  • The European Union’s proposed refugee deal with Turkey is a blunt attempt to create a disincentive for refugees to pay smugglers to reach Greece.
    — Jim Yardley, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2016
  • Economists have long said the rule acted as a disincentive for women to rejoin the workforce full time because they would be taxed more.
    — Georgi Kantchev, WSJ, 22 Dec. 2021
  • Those organs can be life-saving for the right patient but too often transplant centers won’t take the chance, a disincentive for OPOs to collect them.
    — Lauran Neergaard, The Denver Post, 14 Oct. 2019
  • That’s a serious disincentive, Cross says, when the Apple speaker costs $200 more than than most smart speakers.
    — Mark Gurman, Houston Chronicle, 12 Apr. 2018
  • That’s a serious disincentive, Cross says, when the Apple speaker costs $200 more than than most smart speakers.
    — Fortune, 12 Apr. 2018
  • Yet even when people are in the grips of a delusion, their behavior can sometimes be shaped with incentives and disincentives.
    — Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2023
  • Drivers’ earnings are deducted through the app to help pay for the lease, which also gives them a disincentive to drive for rival Lyft Inc. or small competitors.
    — Greg Bensinger, WSJ, 8 Aug. 2017
  • And this part is interesting, too: here’s how the author describes a kind of gradual buy-in by the average user, despite some initial disincentives.
    — John Werner, Forbes.com, 4 Apr. 2025
  • Aside from all the implications for hardware vendors, this is the opposite of the business model for the typical horizontal software or cloud provider, which creates a disincentive for developers (and investors) to build scalable business plans.
    — Jason Andersen, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'disincentive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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