"carrot and stick" meaning in English

See carrot and stick in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-carrot and stick.ogg [Australia] Forms: carrots and sticks [plural]
Etymology: From combining two ways to motivate a beast of burden, with the lure of a carrot placed just out of reach, and the threat of a stick behind. Head templates: {{en-noun|carrots and sticks}} carrot and stick (plural carrots and sticks)
  1. (idiomatic) The simultaneous rewarding of good behavior and punishing of bad behavior. Wikipedia link: carrot and stick Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: stick and carrot Translations (simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior): الْعَصَا وَٱلْجَزَرَة (al-ʕaṣā wa-l-jazara) (Arabic), մտրակ և բլիթ (mtrak ew blitʻ) (Armenian), bastó i pastanaga (Catalan), 胡蘿蔔加大棒 (Chinese Mandarin), 胡萝卜加大棒 (húluóbo jiā dà bàng) (Chinese Mandarin), 軟硬兼施 (Chinese Mandarin), 软硬兼施 (ruǎn-yìng jiānshī) (Chinese Mandarin), cukr a bič (Czech), piits ja präänik (Estonian), keppi ja porkkana (Finnish), la carotte et le bâton (French), Zuckerbrot und Peitsche (German), μαστίγιο και καρότο (mastígio kai karóto) [neuter] (Greek), mézesmadzag és korbács (Hungarian), jutalom és büntetés (Hungarian), mealladh agus bagairt (Irish), bastone e carota (Italian), アメとムチ (ame to muchi) (note: alt. spelling) (Japanese), 엿과 채찍 (yeot-gwa chaejjik) (Korean), pisk og gulrot (Norwegian Bokmål), هویج و چماق (havij o čomâq) (Persian), kij i marchewka (Polish), morot och piska (Swedish), piska och morot (Swedish), havuç ve sopa (Turkish)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for carrot and stick meaning in English (8.1kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "From combining two ways to motivate a beast of burden, with the lure of a carrot placed just out of reach, and the threat of a stick behind.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "carrots and sticks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "carrots and sticks"
      },
      "expansion": "carrot and stick (plural carrots and sticks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Arabic terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
          "parents": [
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            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
          "parents": [
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1876, Lord Blachford, “The Reality of Duty, as Illustrated by the Autobiography of Mr. John Stuart Mill”, in The Contemporary Review, page 523",
          "text": "It was this carrot and stick discipline to which Mr. John Mill was subjected, and which he accepted dutifully as flowing from that perfect wisdom of which up to this time his father had been the representative.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1928, Joseph Montague with George Young, Freedom of the Seas, page 159",
          "text": "There was no similar carrot and stick for use against the French land armaments.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000, Anne O. Krueger with Chonira Aturupane, The WTO as an International Organization, page 225",
          "text": "The proposal to use the world trade order as a source of carrots and sticks for the pursuit of environmental objectives is based on three illusions.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Paul Lendvai with Ann Major, One Day that Shook the Communist World: The 1956 Hungarian Uprising and Its Legacy, page 227",
          "text": "the artful tactic of carrot and stick bore relatively plentiful fruit.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The simultaneous rewarding of good behavior and punishing of bad behavior."
      ],
      "id": "en-carrot_and_stick-en-noun-UI38z3F9",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) The simultaneous rewarding of good behavior and punishing of bad behavior."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "stick and carrot"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "roman": "al-ʕaṣā wa-l-jazara",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "الْعَصَا وَٱلْجَزَرَة"
        },
        {
          "code": "hy",
          "lang": "Armenian",
          "roman": "mtrak ew blitʻ",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "մտրակ և բլիթ"
        },
        {
          "code": "be",
          "lang": "Belarusian",
          "note": "пу́га і пе́рнік (púha i pjérnik, literally “whip and gingerbread”)",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior"
        },
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "bastó i pastanaga"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "胡蘿蔔加大棒"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "húluóbo jiā dà bàng",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "胡萝卜加大棒"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "軟硬兼施"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "ruǎn-yìng jiānshī",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "软硬兼施"
        },
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "cukr a bič"
        },
        {
          "code": "et",
          "lang": "Estonian",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "piits ja präänik"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "keppi ja porkkana"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "la carotte et le bâton"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "Zuckerbrot und Peitsche"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "mastígio kai karóto",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "μαστίγιο και καρότο"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "mézesmadzag és korbács"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "jutalom és büntetés"
        },
        {
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "mealladh agus bagairt"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "bastone e carota"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "note": "飴と鞭 (あめとむち, ame to muchi, literally “candy and whip”)",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "note": "alt. spelling",
          "roman": "ame to muchi",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "アメとムチ"
        },
        {
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "roman": "yeot-gwa chaejjik",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "엿과 채찍"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "pisk og gulrot"
        },
        {
          "code": "fa",
          "lang": "Persian",
          "roman": "havij o čomâq",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "هویج و چماق"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "kij i marchewka"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "кнут и пря́ник (knut i prjánik, literally “whip and gingerbread”)",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "morot och piska"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "piska och morot"
        },
        {
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
          "word": "havuç ve sopa"
        },
        {
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "note": "баті́г та пря́ник (batíh ta prjányk, literally “whip and gingerbread”)",
          "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "carrot and stick"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-carrot and stick.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/dd/En-au-carrot_and_stick.ogg/En-au-carrot_and_stick.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/En-au-carrot_and_stick.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "carrot and stick"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From combining two ways to motivate a beast of burden, with the lure of a carrot placed just out of reach, and the threat of a stick behind.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "carrots and sticks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "carrots and sticks"
      },
      "expansion": "carrot and stick (plural carrots and sticks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Arabic terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
        "English coordinated pairs",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Japanese links with redundant wikilinks"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1876, Lord Blachford, “The Reality of Duty, as Illustrated by the Autobiography of Mr. John Stuart Mill”, in The Contemporary Review, page 523",
          "text": "It was this carrot and stick discipline to which Mr. John Mill was subjected, and which he accepted dutifully as flowing from that perfect wisdom of which up to this time his father had been the representative.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1928, Joseph Montague with George Young, Freedom of the Seas, page 159",
          "text": "There was no similar carrot and stick for use against the French land armaments.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000, Anne O. Krueger with Chonira Aturupane, The WTO as an International Organization, page 225",
          "text": "The proposal to use the world trade order as a source of carrots and sticks for the pursuit of environmental objectives is based on three illusions.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Paul Lendvai with Ann Major, One Day that Shook the Communist World: The 1956 Hungarian Uprising and Its Legacy, page 227",
          "text": "the artful tactic of carrot and stick bore relatively plentiful fruit.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The simultaneous rewarding of good behavior and punishing of bad behavior."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) The simultaneous rewarding of good behavior and punishing of bad behavior."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "carrot and stick"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "en-au-carrot and stick.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/dd/En-au-carrot_and_stick.ogg/En-au-carrot_and_stick.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/En-au-carrot_and_stick.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "stick and carrot"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "roman": "al-ʕaṣā wa-l-jazara",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "الْعَصَا وَٱلْجَزَرَة"
    },
    {
      "code": "hy",
      "lang": "Armenian",
      "roman": "mtrak ew blitʻ",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "մտրակ և բլիթ"
    },
    {
      "code": "be",
      "lang": "Belarusian",
      "note": "пу́га і пе́рнік (púha i pjérnik, literally “whip and gingerbread”)",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "bastó i pastanaga"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "胡蘿蔔加大棒"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "húluóbo jiā dà bàng",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "胡萝卜加大棒"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "軟硬兼施"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "ruǎn-yìng jiānshī",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "软硬兼施"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "cukr a bič"
    },
    {
      "code": "et",
      "lang": "Estonian",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "piits ja präänik"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "keppi ja porkkana"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "la carotte et le bâton"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "Zuckerbrot und Peitsche"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "mastígio kai karóto",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "μαστίγιο και καρότο"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "mézesmadzag és korbács"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "jutalom és büntetés"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "mealladh agus bagairt"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "bastone e carota"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "note": "飴と鞭 (あめとむち, ame to muchi, literally “candy and whip”)",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "note": "alt. spelling",
      "roman": "ame to muchi",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "アメとムチ"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "roman": "yeot-gwa chaejjik",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "엿과 채찍"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "pisk og gulrot"
    },
    {
      "code": "fa",
      "lang": "Persian",
      "roman": "havij o čomâq",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "هویج و چماق"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "kij i marchewka"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "кнут и пря́ник (knut i prjánik, literally “whip and gingerbread”)",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "morot och piska"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "piska och morot"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior",
      "word": "havuç ve sopa"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "note": "баті́г та пря́ник (batíh ta prjányk, literally “whip and gingerbread”)",
      "sense": "simultaneous rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior"
    }
  ],
  "word": "carrot and stick"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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