Goaded

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Prompted or encouraged someone to act, often by annoying or urging them ; pierced or jabbed with a pointed stick or similar tool to drive movement or reaction
2. Compelled or stimulated a person to do something through persistent urging or irritation ; poked or prodded with a sharp instrument to motivate or guide movement
3. Driven or motivated to take action by persistent prodding or taunting ; pierced by a pointed object to provoke movement or response

Etymology: "Goaded" is the past tense of "goad", and the verb grew out of a noun for a pointed stick. The earliest form was Old English "gād", meaning a spear or sharpened rod, and it traces back to a Proto-Germanic word that likely also gave Old Norse "gedda", a pike fish, a fitting name for something long and pointed. Its Indo-European roots lie in ideas of throwing or urging forward, which is why the Sanskrit cognates "hinoti" and "heti" mean "to urge on" and "missile." The original sense was physical: a goad was the long stick with a sharp point that drivers used to prod oxen along. Over time, the instrument's job became the verb's meaning, so to goad someone came to mean to push them into action with sharp jabs, whether those jabs are real or verbal. Today the word is almost always figurative, as when a rival's taunts goad a player into a reckless attack.

Synonyms: urged, prodded

Antonyms: deterred