Meaning

A gentle push..

Definitions by Sense

1. A gentle push.
2. (Internet) A feature of instant messaging software used to get the attention of another user, as by shaking the conversation window or playing a sound.
3. The rotation by one step of a fruit machine reel of the player's choice.
4. (behavioral economics) The use of positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions as ways to influence.
5. (transitive) To push against gently, especially in order to gain attention or give a signal.
6. (transitive) To near or come close to something.
7. (transitive) To move slightly.
8. Alternative form of nudzh.

Example Sentences

give someone a nudge

Since the machine was showing two lemons and a cherry, I decided to try a nudge.

All this experimentation is yielding insights into which nudges give the biggest shove. One question is whether nudges can be designed to harness existing social norms. In Copenhagen Pelle Guldborg Hansen, founder of the Danish Nudging Network, a non-profit organisation, tested two potential “social nudges” in partnership with the local government, both using symbols to try to influence choices.

Manipulating behavior is old hat in the private sector, where advertisers and companies have been nudging consumers for decades. Just think of strategically placed chocolate bars at the checkout counter. But in public policy, nudge proponents study human behavior to try to figure out why people sometimes make choices that they themselves would consider poor. Then they test small changes in how those choices are presented, to see whether people can be steered toward better decisions — like putting apples, not chocolate bars, at eye level in school cafeterias. […] It is tricky to run perfectly controlled experiments in real-life situations, but proving the worth of nudges is a central principle of the program, Mr. Halpern said.

Libertarian paternalism is the view that, because the way options are presented to citizens affects what they choose, society should present options in a way that “nudges” our intuitive selves to make choices that are more consistent with what our more deliberative selves would have chosen if they were in control.

This year's profits are nudging the 10 million mark.

But a serious public health and economic crisis, and the responses to it from commonwealth and state governments, seems to have nudged some “protest” voters back into the major party fold.

Grace is portrayed as an overly neurotic nudge who recites her own poetry, loves complicated situations, and is in the process of coming out to her liberal, middle class, Jewish parents.

Word Forms

• nudges
• nug
• nudging
• nudged

Synonyms for nudge

Antonyms for nudge

Related Words

When Should You Use Nudge?

Use nudge when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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