What does discourage mean?

Definitions for discourage
dɪˈskɜr ɪdʒ, -ˈskʌr-dis·cour·age

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word discourage.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. deter, discourageverb

    try to prevent; show opposition to

    "We should discourage this practice among our youth"

  2. discourageverb

    deprive of courage or hope; take away hope from; cause to feel discouraged

  3. warn, discourage, admonish, monishverb

    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"

Wiktionary

  1. discourageverb

    To take away or reduce the courage of.

  2. discourageverb

    To persuade somebody not to do something.

    Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can (Abraham Lincoln )

  3. Etymology: From descourager (modern French décourager), from descouragier, from des- and corage. Surface analysis.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To DISCOURAGEverb

    Etymology: decourager, Fr. dis and courage.

    I might neither encourage the rebels insolence, nor discourage the protestants loyalty and patience. Charles I .

    The apostle with great zeal discourages too unreasonable a presumption. John Rogers, Serm.

    Wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land? Numb. xxxii. 7.

    You may keep your beauty and your health, unless you destroy them yourself, or discourage them to stay with you, by using them ill. William Temple, Miscell.

Wikipedia

  1. discourage

    Deterrence in relation to criminal offending is the idea or theory that the threat of punishment will deter people from committing crime and reduce the probability and/or level of offending in society. It is one of five objectives that punishment is thought to achieve; the other four objectives are denunciation, incapacitation (for the protection of society), retribution and rehabilitation.Criminal deterrence theory has two possible applications: the first is that punishments imposed on individual offenders will deter or prevent that particular offender from committing further crimes; the second is that public knowledge that certain offences will be punished has a generalised deterrent effect which prevents others from committing crimes.Two different aspects of punishment may have an impact on deterrence, the first being the certainty of punishment, by increasing the likelihood of apprehension and punishment, this may have a deterrent effect. The second relates to the severity of punishment; how severe the punishment is for a particular crime may influence behavior if the potential offender concludes that the punishment is so severe, it is not worth the risk of getting caught. An underlying principle of deterrence is that it is utilitarian or forward-looking. As with rehabilitation, it is designed to change behaviour in the future rather than simply provide retribution or punishment for current or past behaviour.

ChatGPT

  1. discourage

    To discourage means to cause someone to lose confidence or enthusiasm, typically through efforts aimed at dissuading or deterring them from an action, course, plan, or decision. It can also refer to the act of making something appear unattractive or unappealing, or preventing an event or behavior from occurring.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Discourageverb

    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

  2. Discourageverb

    to dishearten one with respect to; to discountenance; to seek to check by disfavoring; to deter one from; as, they discouraged his efforts

  3. Discouragenoun

    lack of courage; cowardliness

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Discourage

    dis-kur′āj, v.t. to take away the courage of: to dishearten: to seek to check by showing disfavour to.—n. Discour′agement, act of discouraging: that which discourages: dejection.—p.adj. Discour′aging, disheartening, depressing.—adv. Discour′agingly. [O. Fr. descourager. See Courage.]

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'discourage' in Verbs Frequency: #1033

How to pronounce discourage?

How to say discourage in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of discourage in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of discourage in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of discourage in a Sentence

  1. Rod Rosenstein:

    The goal is to discourage 'piling on', and instead coordinate with local, state, federal and foreign authorities to achieve a joint result that imposes appropriate punishment without prolonging investigations.

  2. William Ellery Channing:

    Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.

  3. Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown:

    The penalties in the federal system need to be much more conveyed to people to discourage this idea that this is a harmless, mostly clerical administrative violation of the federal system, it is blood money. You are getting the guns... to someone that will harm someone.

  4. Andy McKean:

    He sets, in my opinion, a poor example for the nation and particularly for our children by personally insulting -- often in a crude and juvenile fashion -- those who disagree with him, being a bully at a time when we we are attempting to discourage bullying, his frequent disregard for the truth and his willingness to ridicule or marginalize people for their appearance, ethnicity or disability.

  5. Plato:

    Never discourage anyone... who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

discourage#10000#20138#100000

Translations for discourage

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

  • تثبيطArabic
  • разубеждавам, обезсърчавам, обезкуражавамBulgarian
  • vzít odvahu, odradit, zastrašitCzech
  • entmutigen, abschrecken, abraten von, abraten, abbringen vonGerman
  • αποκαρδιώνωGreek
  • persuadir, descorazonar, acobardar, desalentarSpanish
  • lannistaa, luopumaan, nujertaa, taivutellaFinnish
  • dissuader, découragerFrench
  • mengecilkan hatiIndonesian
  • scoraggiareItalian
  • לדכאHebrew
  • 思いとどませる, 落胆, がっかりJapanese
  • whakapāhunuMāori
  • одвраќа, обесхрабруваMacedonian
  • afraden om, ontmoedigen, ontradenDutch
  • zniechęcaćPolish
  • desalentar, desencorajar, despersuadir, desanimar, dissuadirPortuguese
  • descurajaRomanian
  • расхолаживать, отговаривать, отговорить, разубедить, расхолодить, обескуражить, разубеждать, обескураживатьRussian
  • discourageSwedish
  • ஊக்கம்Tamil
  • నిరుత్సాహపరుచుTelugu
  • กีดกันThai

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"discourage." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/discourage>.

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