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.

2. encourage(Verb)

   To spur on, strongly recommend.

   We encourage the use of bicycles in the town centre.

3. encourage(Verb)

   To foster, give help or patronage

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

Origin: 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, confidence, or hope to someone.

   Cheerleaders cheering a football game in the crowd

   Submitted by JP03 on February 15, 2015

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

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. Ruben Vega:

   The prize is to encourage people to vote.

2. Sana Dabbas:

   Encourage the genius in everyone you meet.

3. Jay Inslee:

   I encourage everyone to stay off the roads if possible.

4. Brenda Goff:

   I actually want to encourage young people to get into this.

5. LaToya Cantrell:

   I strongly encourage everyone to be safe and stay informed.

Images & Illustrations of encourage

Popularity rank by frequency of use