encourager

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From encourage +‎ -er.

Noun

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encourager (plural encouragers)

  1. One who provides encouragement.

See also

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French encoragier. By surface analysis, en- +‎ courage +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɑ̃.ku.ʁa.ʒe/
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

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encourager

  1. (transitive) to encourage
    Antonym: décourager
    Elle m’encourage à toujours faire de mon mieux.
    She encourages me to always do my best.
    • 1759, Voltaire, Candide[1], page 160:
      Mais dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de tems en tems un Amiral pour encourager les autres.
      But in this country it is good to kill an Admiral from time to time to encourage the others.
  2. (reflexive pronominal) to motivate oneself
    Antonym: se décourager
  3. (reciprocal pronominal) to encourage each other
    Ils se sont encouragés les uns les autres à faire de leur mieux.
    They encouraged each other to do their best.
  4. (transitive) to promote

Conjugation

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This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written encourage- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.

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Descendants

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  • Romanian: încuraja

Further reading

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