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

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. promote, advance, boost, further, encourageverb

   contribute to the progress or growth of

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

2. encourageverb

   inspire with confidence; give hope or courage to

3. encourageverb

   spur on

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

WiktionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. encourageverb

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

   I encouraged him during his race.

2. encourageverb

   To spur on, strongly recommend.

   We encourage the use of bicycles in the town centre.

3. encourageverb

   To foster, give help or patronage

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

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

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. To Encourageverb

   Etymology: encourager, French.

   1. To animate; to incite to any thing.

   They encourage themselves in an evil matter. Ps. lxiv. 5.

   2. To give courage to; to support the spirits; to inspirit; to embolden.

   I would neither encourage the rebels, nor discourage the protestants loyalty. Charles I .

   3. To raise confidence; to make confident.

   I doubt not but there are ways to be found, to assist our reason in this most useful part; and this the judicious Hooker encourages me to say. John Locke.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. encourage

   Courage International, also known as Courage Apostolate and Courage for short, is an approved apostolate of the Catholic Church that counsels "men and women with same-sex attractions in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth and love". Based on a treatment model for drug and alcohol addictions used in programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Courage runs a peer support program aimed at helping gay people remain abstinent from same-sex sexual activity.The organization runs support groups led by a priest to encourage its members to abstain from acting on their homosexual desires and to live according to the teachings of the Catholic Church on homosexuality. Courage also has a ministry geared towards the relatives and friends of gay people called Encourage.The apostolate was endorsed by the Pontifical Council for the Family in 1994 through the statement of Alfonso Cardinal López Trujillo.Courage has received criticism from LGBT advocacy groups, such as New Ways Ministry, which say that Courage's methods are "problematic and very dangerous to people's spiritual health". In 2015, the Southern Poverty Law Center listed Courage International as one of the ten most prominent "ex-gay" anti-LGBT organizations.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Encourageverb

   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 DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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 ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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  

Matched Categories

1. • Induce
   • Inspire
   • Support

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

   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 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. Daniel Ramirez:

   I think the message will be that whatever you as married Catholics decide to do, we will walk with you, that we'll encourage you to follow the church's precepts, but when you don't, we will still love and accept you.

2. Susan Collins:

   The first major overhaul of our tax code since 1986, this legislation will provide tax relief to working families, encourage the creation of jobs right here in America and spur economic growth that will benefit all Americans.

3. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser:

   We would encourage the Congress to not be so concerned with overturning what 7-in-10 voters said should be the law in the District of Columbia.

4. Alison Saunders:

   This is really good news for the victims of these dreadful crimes and is also testament to the hard work we have done recently to encourage victims to come forward.

5. The Commission:

   The large volume of international maritime trade passing through that area means that freedom of navigation and over flight are of prime importance to the EU, the EU should encourage China to contribute constructively to regional stability ... and support for the rules-based international order.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

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