To goad someone means to deliberately provoke or push them into action, often by annoying them or making them angry. The word comes from the pointed stick farmers once used to prod cattle and other livestock forward, and it still carries that sense of jabbing at someone until they move.

When your little brother keeps teasing you about losing a race, trying to make you challenge him to a rematch, he's goading you. When classmates needle a friend about being too scared to try the high dive, they're goading them. Politicians sometimes goad their opponents during debates, hoping to make them lose their temper and say something foolish.

To goad is to poke and prod, often repeatedly, until the person reacts, rather than asking directly or politely. You might goad someone into doing something they weren't planning to do, or goad them into an angry response. Sometimes people goad others as a joke, but it can cross a line into meanness if the person being goaded genuinely doesn't want to participate.