Adjacent Words

Encourage definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ENCOUR'AGE, v.t. enkur'rage. To give courage to; to give or increase confidence of success; to inspire with courage, spirit, or strength of mind; to embolden; to animate; to incite; to inspirit.
But charge Joshua, and encourage him. Deutoronomy 3.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: contribute to the progress or growth of; "I am promoting the use of computers in the classroom" [syn: promote, advance, boost, further, encourage]
2: inspire with confidence; give hope or courage to [ant: discourage]
3: spur on; "His financial success encouraged him to look for a wife"

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-aged; -aging) Etymology: Middle English encoragen, from Anglo-French encorager, from en- + curage courage Date: 15th century 1. a. to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope ; hearten <she was encouraged to continue by her early success> b. to attempt to persuade ; urge <they encouraged him to go back to school> 2. to spur on ; stimulate <warm weather encourages plant growth> 3. to give help or patronage to ; foster <government grants designed to encourage conservation> • encourager noun Synonyms: encourage, inspirit, hearten, embolden mean to fill with courage or strength of purpose. encourage suggests the raising of one's confidence especially by an external agency <the teacher's praise encouraged the students to greater efforts>. inspirit somewhat literary, implies instilling life, energy, courage, or vigor into something <patriots inspirited the people to resist>. hearten implies the lifting of dispiritedness or despondency by an infusion of fresh courage or zeal <a hospital patient heartened by good news>. embolden implies the giving of courage sufficient to overcome timidity or reluctance <emboldened by her first success, she tried an even more difficult climb>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 give courage, confidence, or hope to. 2 (foll. by to + infin.) urge, advise. 3 stimulate by help, reward, etc. 4 promote or assist (an enterprise, opinion, etc.). Derivatives: encouragement n. encourager n. encouraging adj. encouragingly adv. Etymology: ME f. F encourager (as EN(1), COURAGE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Encourage En*cour"age (?; 48), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Encouraged (?; 48); p. pr. & vb. n. Encouraging.] [F. encourager; pref. en- (L. in) + courage courage. See Courage.] To give courage to; to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope; to raise, or to increase, the confidence of; to animate; enhearten; to incite; to help forward; -- the opposite of discourage. David encouraged himself in the Lord. --1 Sam. xxx. 6. Syn: To embolden; inspirit; animate; enhearten; hearten; incite; cheer; urge; impel; stimulate; instigate; countenance; comfort; promote; advance; forward; strengthen.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(encourages, encouraging, encouraged) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If you encourage someone, you give them confidence, for example by letting them know that what they are doing is good and telling them that they should continue to do it. When things aren't going well, he encourages me, telling me not to give up. VERB: V n 2. If someone is encouraged by something that happens, it gives them hope or confidence. Investors were encouraged by the news... VERB: usu passive, be V-ed by n • encouraged We were very encouraged, after over 17,000 pictures were submitted... I am encouraged that more physicians are asking questions in these meetings and coming to workshops. ADJ: v-link ADJ, oft ADJ that 3. If you encourage someone to do something, you try to persuade them to do it, for example by telling them that it would be a pleasant thing to do, or by trying to make it easier for them to do it. You can also encourage an activity. Herbie Hancock was encouraged by his family to learn music at a young age... Participation is encouraged at all levels. VERB: V n to-inf, V n 4. If something encourages a particular activity or state, it causes it to happen or increase. ...a natural substance that encourages cell growth... Slow music encourages supermarket-shoppers to browse longer but spend more. VERB: V n, V n to-inf

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Embolden, inspirit, animate, enhearten, hearten, stimulate, cheer, incite, assure, reassure, comfort, console, buoy up. 2. Support, favor, countenance, further, advance, promote, foster, aid, help, abet, patronize, help forward.

Moby Thesaurus

abet, admonish, advance, advantage, advocate, aid, aid and abet, animate, ask for, assist, assure, bear up, bolster, boost, brace up, brighten, buck up, buoy up, caution, charge, cheer, cheer up, chirk up, comfort, condole with, conduce to, console, contribute to, countenance, ease, egg on, embolden, endorse, enjoin, enliven, exhilarate, exhort, expedite, expostulate, facilitate, favor, feed, forward, foster, further, give a lift, give comfort, give encouragement, gladden, go for, hasten, hearten, help, incite, induce, inspire, inspirit, invigorate, invite, issue a caveat, keep in countenance, lend wings to, liven, make for, move, nerve, nourish, nurture, pep up, persuade, pick up, preach, promote, prompt, push forward, put at ease, put forward, quicken, reassure, rejoice, rejoice the heart, relieve, remonstrate, set at ease, set forward, shine upon, smile upon, solace, speed, stimulate, subscribe, subsidize, support, sympathize with, urge, vitalize, warn