Adjacent Words

Nurture definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

NUR'TURE, n.
1. That which nourishes; food; diet.
2. That which promotes growth; education; instruction. Ephesians 6.
NUR'TURE, v.t.
1. To feed; to nourish.
2. To educate; to bring or train up.
He was nurtured where he was born.
NUSANCE. [See Nuisance.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the properties acquired as a consequence of the way you were treated as a child [syn: raising, rearing, nurture]
2: helping someone grow up to be an accepted member of the community; "they debated whether nature or nurture was more important" [syn: breeding, bringing up, fostering, fosterage, nurture, raising, rearing, upbringing] v
1: help develop, help grow; "nurture his talents" [syn: foster, nurture]
2: bring up; "raise a family"; "bring up children" [syn: rear, raise, bring up, nurture, parent]
3: provide with nourishment; "We sustained ourselves on bread and water"; "This kind of food is not nourishing for young children" [syn: nourish, nurture, sustain]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English norture, nurture, from Anglo-French nureture, from Late Latin nutritura act of nursing, from Latin nutritus, past participle of nutrire to suckle, nourish — more at nourish Date: 14th century 1. training, upbringing 2. something that nourishes ; food 3. the sum of the environmental factors influencing the behavior and traits expressed by an organism II. transitive verb (nurtured; nurturing) Date: 15th century 1. to supply with nourishment 2. educate 3. to further the development of ; foster • nurturer noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 the process of bringing up or training (esp. children); fostering care. 2 nourishment. 3 sociological factors as an influence on or determinant of personality (opp. NATURE). --v.tr. 1 bring up; rear. 2 nourish. Derivatives: nurturer n. Etymology: ME f. OF nour(e)ture (as NOURISH)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nurture Nur"ture, n. [OE. norture, noriture, OF. norriture, norreture, F. nourriture, fr. L. nutritura a nursing, suckling. See Nourish.] 1. The act of nourishing or nursing; thender care; education; training. A man neither by nature nor by nurture wise. --Milton. 2. That which nourishes; food; diet. --Spenser.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nurture Nur"ture, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nurtured; p. pr. & vb. n. Nurturing.] 1. To feed; to nourish. 2. To educate; to bring or train up. He was nurtured where he had been born. --Sir H. Wotton. Syn: To nourish; nurse; cherish; bring up; educate; tend. Usage: To Nurture, Nourish, Cherish. Nourish denotes to supply with food, or cause to grow; as, to nourish a plant, to nourish rebellion. To nurture is to train up with a fostering care, like that of a mother; as, to nurture into strength; to nurture in sound principles. To cherish is to hold and treat as dear; as, to cherish hopes or affections.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(nurtures, nurturing, nurtured) 1. If you nurture something such as a young child or a young plant, you care for it while it is growing and developing. (FORMAL) Parents want to know the best way to nurture and raise their child to adulthood... The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants. VERB: V n, V n • nurturing She was not receiving warm nurturing care. ADJ • nurturing Which adult in these children's lives will provide the nurturing they need? N-UNCOUNT 2. If you nurture plans, ideas, or people, you encourage them or help them to develop. (FORMAL) She had always nurtured great ambitions for her son. ...parents whose political views were nurtured in the sixties... VERB: V n, V n • nurturing The decision to cut back on film-making had a catastrophic effect on the nurturing of new talent. N-UNCOUNT 3. Nurture is care that is given to someone while they are growing and developing. The human organism learns partly by nature, partly by nurture.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

nur'-tur: The word occurs in the King James Version in Eph 6:4 as the translation of paideia, but the Revised Version (British and American) changes to "chastening," and uses "nurture" (verb) for the King James Version "bring up" (ektrepho) in the first part of the verse. Paideia has the idea of training and correction; in the Revised Version (British and American) 2 Esdras 8:12 for Latin erudio; and compare the King James Version The Wisdom of Solomon 3:11; Sirach 18:13 (paideuo), etc.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Nourishment, food, diet. 2. Training, education, instruction, discipline, tuition schooling, breeding. 3. Nursing, nourishing, tender care, attention. II. v. a. 1. Feed, nourish, nurse, tend. 2. Train, educate, instruct, school, rear, breed, discipline, bring up, train up.

Moby Thesaurus

TLC, abet, acculturate, advance, aid and abet, aliment, alimentation, ameliorate, amend, apprentice, apprenticeship, ask for, attend to, baby-sit, back, basic training, bear, better, bolster, boost, bosom, bread, break, break in, breaking, breast-feed, breed, breeding, bring forward, bring up, care, care for, chaperon, cherish, civilize, cling to, clip, coddle, comestibles, condition, conditioning, conserve, cosset, countenance, cradle, cultivate, cultivation, culture, daily bread, develop, development, discipline, drill, drilling, dry-nurse, eats, economic support, edibles, edify, educate, elevate, embosom, embrace, emend, encourage, endowment, enhance, enlighten, enrich, entertain, exercise, farm, fatten, fatten up, favor, feed, fetch up, fetching-up, fit, fondle, force-feed, form, forward, foster, fostering, give encouragement, go straight, groom, grooming, grow, grub, harbor, hatch, have, have and hold, hold, hold on to, house-train, housebreak, housebreaking, hug, improve, improve upon, improvement, in-service training, invite, keep, keep in countenance, keep watch over, lactate, lard, lavish care on, lick into shape, lift, livelihood, living, look after, look out for, look to, maintenance, make an improvement, manna, manual training, matronize, meat, meliorate, mend, military training, mind, minister to, mother, mothering, nourish, nourishment, nurse, nurturing, nutrify, nutriment, on-the-job training, pabulum, pamper, pap, practice, preparation, prepare, preserve, price support, promote, protege, provender, provide for, provision, provisions, put in tune, put to school, raise, raising, ranch, ready, readying, rear, rearing, refection, refine upon, reform, refreshment, rehearsal, rehearse, ride herd on, run, school, see after, see to, send to school, shepherd, sloyd, socialize, spoon-feed, straighten out, stuff, subsidization, subsidy, subsistence, subvention, suckle, support, sustain, sustainment, sustenance, sustentation, take care of, take charge of, take in hand, tend, tender loving care, train, training, transfigure, transform, treasure, treasure up, upbringing, upgrade, uphold, upkeep, uplift, viands, victuals, vocational education, vocational training, watch, watch out for, watch over, wet-nurse