encourage

verb

en·cour·age | \ in-ˈkər-ij

, -ˈkə-rij, en-\

encouraged; encouraging

Definition of encourage

transitive verb

1a : to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope : hearten she was encouraged to continue by her early success

b : to attempt to persuade : urge they encouraged him to go back to school

2 : to spur on : stimulate warm weather encourages plant growth

3 : to give help or patronage to : foster government grants designed to encourage conservation

Other Words from encourage Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Learn More about encourage

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Choose the Right Synonym for encourage

encourage, inspirit, hearten, embolden mean to fill with courage or strength of purpose. encourage suggests the raising of one's confidence especially by an external agency. the teacher's praise encouraged the students to greater efforts inspirit, somewhat literary, implies instilling life, energy, courage, or vigor into something. patriots inspirited the people to resist hearten implies the lifting of dispiritedness or despondency by an infusion of fresh courage or zeal. a hospital patient heartened by good news embolden implies the giving of courage sufficient to overcome timidity or reluctance. emboldened by her first success, she tried an even more difficult climb

Examples of encourage in a Sentence

They encouraged us in our work. Encourage each other with kind words. The program is meant to encourage savings. Warm weather encourages plant growth. He claims the new regulations will encourage investment. He claims the new regulations will encourage people to invest. We want to encourage students to read more. My parents encouraged me to go back to college. They encouraged her to go.

Recent Examples on the Web

This meal encourages children to attend school and enables them to better concentrate and maximise their learning potential. — Katherine J. Igoe, Marie Claire, "Oops—"Sussex Royal" Had to Delete and Repost Their Latest Instagram Post," 8 Apr. 2019 Autism Speaks encourages everyone to find out more at ScreenforAutism.org. — Marisa Lascala, Good Housekeeping, "10 Things Parents of Kids With Autism Spectrum Disorder Wish You Knew," 1 Apr. 2019 Advertising Haynes, prosecutors said, encouraged the relationship with Jenkins. — John Seewer, The Seattle Times, "Prosecutor: Pastor urged ministers to have sex with teen," 25 Mar. 2019 Trendy bars, too, are encouraging tipsy, old-school shutterbugging. — Lauren Steele, WSJ, "Turn Your Phone Into a Polaroid Camera," 21 Mar. 2019 In the end, Archie encourages Valerie to rejoin the band, making everyone, especially Josie, very very happy. — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, "11 Signs that "Riverdale"'s Josie and Archie Have Been Into Each Other All Along," 31 Jan. 2019 Hohyun Song, an AmorePacific researcher, encourages me to streamline my skin-care routine. — Jenny Bailly, Allure, "What I Learned About the State of K-Beauty in 2019 by Going Straight to the Source," 21 Mar. 2019 Eventually, in his speech, Sanders did get personal, a move reportedly encouraged by his advisors, and talked about growing up with family that had—and hadn’t—survived the Holocaust. — Bridget Read, Vogue, "Who’s Afraid of the Bernie Bros?," 4 Mar. 2019 Gabriel was the person who initially sent his sister's information to a Democratic political recruiting group, per Insider, who met with AOC and encouraged her to run. — Katherine J. Igoe, Marie Claire, "Who Is Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's Brother Gabriel? He's an Artist and Musician," 8 Feb. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'encourage.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.