Definitions for encourage
ɛnˈkɜr ɪdʒ, -ˈkʌr-en·cour·age

Princeton's WordNet(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. promote, advance, boost, further, encourage(verb)

   contribute to the progress or growth of

   "I am promoting the use of computers in the classroom"

2. encourage(verb)

   inspire with confidence; give hope or courage to

3. encourage(verb)

   spur on

   "His financial success encouraged him to look for a wife"

Wiktionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. encourage(Verb)

   To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.

   I encouraged him during his race.

   Etymology: encoragen, from encoragier, from encoragier from "courage". Displaced native belden (from bieldan), bealden (from bealdian), herten (from hiertan), elnian.

2. encourage(Verb)

   To spur on, strongly recommend.

   We encourage the use of bicycles in the town centre.

   Etymology: encoragen, from encoragier, from encoragier from "courage". Displaced native belden (from bieldan), bealden (from bealdian), herten (from hiertan), elnian.

3. encourage(Verb)

   To foster, give help or patronage

   The royal family has always encouraged the arts in word and deed

   Etymology: encoragen, from encoragier, from encoragier from "courage". Displaced native belden (from bieldan), bealden (from bealdian), herten (from hiertan), elnian.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Encourage(verb)

   to give courage to; to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope; to raise, or to increase, the confidence of; to animate; enhearten; to incite; to help forward; -- the opposite of discourage

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Encourage

   en-kur′āj, v.t. to put courage in: to inspire with spirit or hope: to incite: to patronise: to cherish.—ns. Encour′agement, act of encouraging: that which encourages; Encour′ager,—p.adj. Encour′aging, giving ground to hope for success.—adv. Encour′agingly. [O. Fr. encoragier (Fr. encourager)—en, to make, corage, courage.]

Editors Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. encourage

   Give support, motivation, confidence and positivity to each other.

   Cheerleaders cheering a football game in the crowd

   Submitted by JP03 on February 15, 2015  

2. encourage

   Give support, motivation, confidence, optimism and positivity to each other.

   We encourage each other to achieve knowing we are a united humanity working together with universal beings for the optimum health and shared prosperity of all animals, human beings and living organisms on planet earth.

   Submitted by MaryC on April 1, 2020  

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'encourage' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2056

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'encourage' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2187

3. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'encourage' in Verbs Frequency: #200

How to pronounce encourage?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say encourage in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of encourage in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of encourage in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of encourage in a Sentence

1. Rob Carnell:

   The greater concern about the global environment shown by the Fed should encourage investors to realise that they are not about to go crazy with rate hikes this year, we can see markets taking some comfort from these words, though without a meaningful improvement in the run of macro data, in particular from China, it is hard to see this having a lasting effect.

2. Hillary Clinton:

   Now Many Republicans say they ’ll reject anyone President Obama nominates, no matter how qualified. Some are even saying he does n’t have the right to nominate anyone. As if somehow he’s not the real president, you know, that’s in keeping with what we’ve heard all along, is n’t it ? Many Republicans talk in coded racial language about takers and losers. They demonize President President Obama and encourage the ugliest impulses of the paranoid fringe. This kind of hatred and bigotry has no place in our politics or our country.

3. Sunday Riley:

   The simple and official answer to this Reddit post is that yes, this email was sent by a former employee to several members of our company, at one point, we did encourage people to post positive reviews at the launch of this product, consistent with their experiences.

4. Judith Owens:

   I encourage parents to know in general what the recommendations are for amounts of sleep for kids at different ages, but then really be cognizant of the other clues from each of their children that may tell them what approach is best.

5. Kaela Bedics:

   Though I acknowledge that Mike Adams has a first amendment right to the freedom of speech, I find Mike Adams tweets contemptuous and unbecoming of a university professor, i can appreciate the desire to focus on more right-wing work and expose students to these ideas in the university setting, but Mike Adams methods of exposing students to these ideas are, in my opinion, unethical, a means to encourage harassment and violence, and targeted at minorities, women, and members of the LGBTQIA + community.

Images & Illustrations of encourage

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