prodding

American  

[prod-ing] / ˈprɒd ɪŋ /

noun

1. the act of poking or jabbing with or as if with something pointed.

   Finally, after five minutes and some prodding with a stick, the cow moved out of the road.

2. the act of trying to incite someone to action, as if by poking; nagging or urging.

   The National Research Council finally succeeded in its assigned mission—albeit with some prodding from a public interest group and the courts.

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adjective

1. poking, urging, or nagging.

   It wasn’t until two days later, under the prodding questions of close relatives, that she revealed the true source of the ring.

Etymology

Origin of prodding

First recorded in 1840–45; prod + -ing ¹ for the noun senses; prod + -ing ² for the adjective sense

Example Sentences

Zarate, without prodding, went up to CIF executive director Ron Nocetti and thanked him for what will become an annual state soccer championship event.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 14, 2026

The day will need him at his gobsmacking best; poking and prodding, controlling and surprising, putting men into gaps and sticking points on the board.

From BBC • Mar. 5, 2026

Then officers began calmly walking through the crowd, gently prodding people onto one side of the street to reopen it to traffic.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 29, 2026

Joe Rogan mocked Donald Trump during an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” prodding the president for switching up his story around the Epstein files.

From Salon • Nov. 19, 2025

At some stage, I began prodding him with a foot, the way he’d been doing to me earlier.

From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Related Words

• goad
• motivate
• prompt
• propel
• provoke
• remind
• spur
• stimulate