Adjacent Words

Discourage definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DISCOURAGE, v.t. discurage. [dis and courage. See Courage.]
1. To extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits; to deject; to deprive of confidence.
Fathers, provoke not your children, lest they be discouraged. Colossians 3.
2. To deter from any thing; with from.
Why discourage ye the hearts of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them? Numbers 32.
3. To attempt to repress or prevent; to dissuade from; as, to discourage an effort.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: try to prevent; show opposition to; "We should discourage this practice among our youth" [syn: deter, discourage]
2: deprive of courage or hope; take away hope from; cause to feel discouraged [ant: encourage]
3: admonish or counsel in terms of someone's behavior; "I warned him not to go too far"; "I warn you against false assumptions"; "She warned him to be quiet" [syn: warn, discourage, admonish, monish]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-aged; -aging) Etymology: Middle English discoragen, from Middle French descorager, from Old French descoragier, from des- dis- + corage courage Date: 15th century 1. to deprive of courage or confidence ; dishearten <was discouraged by repeated failure> 2. a. to hinder by disfavoring <trying to discourage absenteeism> b. to dissuade or attempt to dissuade from doing something <tried to discourage her from going> • discourageable adjective • discourager noun • discouragingly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 deprive of courage, confidence, or energy. 2 (usu. foll. by from) dissuade (discouraged him from going). 3 show disapproval of (smoking is discouraged). Derivatives: discouragement n. discouragingly adv. Etymology: ME f. OF descouragier (as DIS-, COURAGE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Discourage Dis*cour"age (?; 48), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Discouraged; p. pr. & vb. n. Discouraging.] [Pref. dis- + courage: cf. OF. descoragier, F. d['e]courager: pref. des- (L. dis-) + corage, F. courage. See Courage.] 1. To extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits of; to deprive of confidence; to deject; -- the opposite of encourage; as, he was discouraged in his undertaking; he need not be discouraged from a like attempt. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. --Col. iii. 21. 2. To dishearten one with respect to; to discountenance; to seek to check by disfavoring; to deter one from; as, they discouraged his efforts. Syn: To dishearten; dispirit; depress; deject; dissuade; disfavor.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Discourage Dis*cour"age, n. Lack of courage; cowardliness.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(discourages, discouraging, discouraged) 1. If someone or something discourages you, they cause you to lose your enthusiasm about your actions. It may be difficult to do at first. Don't let this discourage you. = dishearten ? encourage VERB: V n • discouraged She was determined not to be too discouraged. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ • discouraging Today's report is rather more discouraging for the economy. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ 2. To discourage an action or to discourage someone from doing it means to make them not want to do it. ...typhoons that discouraged shopping and leisure activities. ...a campaign to discourage children from smoking. = deter ? encourage VERB: V n/-ing, V n from -ing

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Dishearten, dispirit, depress, deject. 2. Dissuade, deter, keep back. 3. Disfavor, discountenance, throw cold water upon, put a damper on, cover with a wet blanket.

Moby Thesaurus

afflict, anticipate, avert, awe, bar, beat down, blunt, bother, cast down, check, chill, cool, cow, damp, dampen, dampen the spirits, darken, dash, daunt, debar, deflect, deject, demoralize, depress, deter, disaffect, disapprove of, dishearten, disincline, disinterest, dismay, disparage, dispirit, dissuade, distract, distress, divert, droop, estop, exclude, faze, fend, fend off, forbid, foreclose, forestall, frighten, help, hinder, indispose, inhibit, intimidate, irk, keep from, keep off, knock down, lower, lower the spirits, obviate, oppose, oppress, overawe, preclude, press down, prevent, prohibit, put off, quench, repel, restrain, rule out, sadden, save, scare, shake, sink, slow, stave off, stop, suppress, talk out of, trouble, try, turn aside, turn away, turn from, turn off, unman, unnerve, vex, ward off, wean from, weigh, weigh heavy upon, weigh upon