Jump to content

encourage

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: encouragé

English

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Middle English encouragen, encoragen, from Anglo-Norman encoragier, from Old French encoragier. Displaced native Old English hiertan, tyhtan, and trymman. By surface analysis, en- +‎ courage.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Verb

[edit]

encourage (third-person singular simple present encourages, present participle encouraging, simple past and past participle encouraged) (transitive)

  1. To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.
    Synonyms: bield, embolden, hearten; see also Thesaurus:incite
    Antonyms: discourage, dishearten
    I encouraged him during his race.
    Delia's coach encouraged her to focus on the positives.
    • 1960 April, A. W. Bennett, “A Locomotive Shedmaster's Day”, in Railway Magazine, page 273:
      The visitors we do not encourage are the many small boys who slip in unobserved and are a danger to themselves and the staff.
    • 2024 October 30, Paul Clifton, “How can freight be a major part of rail's future?”, in RAIL, number 1021, page 57:
      "It's a lose-lose situation. It can be turned into a win-win. We should be encouraging and supporting expensive bi-mode freight locomotives, especially where capacity is constrained.
  2. To spur on, strongly recommend.
    Synonyms: exhort; see also Thesaurus:advise
    We encourage the use of bicycles in the town centre.
    We encourage you to cycle instead of taking the car.
  3. To foster, give help or patronage.
    Synonyms: promote; see also Thesaurus:nurture
    The royal family has always encouraged the arts in word and deed.
    • 1960 January, Iain D. O. Frew, “The Brora Colliery Tramway”, in Railway Magazine, page 55:
      In addition the Marquess built a brickworks adjacent to the colliery, and also greatly improved the harbour to encourage coastal shipping.
    • 1987 December 20, Tim Scaggs, “No Other Choice But To Go On A Hunger Strike”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 23, page 5:
      They remove all sense of self-responsibility from us prisoners. We have virtually no control over any aspect of our lives. This does not encourage our ability to return to community life outside.
    • 2013 May 10, James Ball, “US government attempts to stifle 3D-printer gun designs will ultimately fail”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      And this is where the larger problem lies: when states try to enforce impossible bans, everyone loses. 3D printing farragoes have all the hallmarks of the absolute worst kind of ineffectual ban: one which encourages overly draconian laws that carry huge side effects, and that ultimately to have little to no effect.

Derived terms

[edit]
[edit]

Translations

[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

French

[edit]

Pronunciation

[edit]

Verb

[edit]

encourage

  1. inflection of encourager:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. singular imperative
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=encourage&oldid=90005358"