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

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:4.0 / 1 vote

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"

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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 DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. To DISCOURAGEverb

   Etymology: decourager, Fr. dis and courage.

   1. To depress; to deprive of confidence; to deject; to dastardize.

   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.

   2. To deter; to fright from any attempt: with from before the thing.

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

   3. It is irregularly used by Temple, with to before the following word.

   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.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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 DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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 DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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

1. • Disapprove

British National Corpus

1. Verbs Frequency

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

How to pronounce discourage?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

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. Laura Cooper:

   Police chiefs strongly discourage the use of private security personnel for dignitary protection units as private security officers lack the authority needed to effectively fulfill the dignitary protection function.

2. Marian Tupy:

   Some of the anti-capitalist impulse goes back to that hunter-gatherer mentality and not comprehending the complexity of the market economy, the complexity outpaced our ability to understand it. But even those who don’t understand markets should open their eyes and acknowledge its benefits : Worldwide, wherever economic freedom is allowed, millions of people have lifted themselves out of stoop labor and miserable poverty. Of course, not everyone can reap the benefits of markets. The sick, the mentally ill and other truly helpless people need a hand. But why assume government must provide that help ? Government does n’t do anything very well. Why not let private charity handle it ? I once assumed there was too much poverty for private charity to make much of a difference. But now I realize there is plenty of money, and private charity would do much more if government did n’t discourage it. When the welfare state took over poverty relief, it crowded out.

3. Andrea Constand:

   Today’s majority decision regarding Bill Cosby is not only disappointing but of concern in that it may discourage those who seek justice for sexual assault in the criminal justice system from reporting or participating in the prosecution of the assailant or may force a victim to choose between filing either a criminal or civil action.

4. Mark Clintworth:

   The European Commission's intention is not to discourage vessel owners from using facilities outside of the EU but to discourage ship owners from using facilities which have proven to present very real danger to life and the general environment.

5. Ilya Novikov:

   It is quite an expected decision after yesterday's [ decision of the Supreme Court to shut down Memorial International ]. We did not have any illusions about the hearing today, but it is crucial that those persecutions did not discourage people and I think will not make people to stop their human rights work. The legal entity can be liquidated but the work remains and people remain.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=discourage
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Discourage
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=discourage
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourage
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discourage
7. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=discourage