as in inspires
to fill with courage or strength of purpose
his poor showing in his first swim meet just emboldened him to train even harder
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Recent Examples of emboldens
That plus all the Emmys may be what emboldens Last Week Tonight to strut where others may watch their step.
—
Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 12 Sep. 2025
European heads-of-state may get on their soapboxes daily and talk about the need to defend Ukraine lest a Russian victory emboldens Moscow to attack NATO territory, their Ukraine policy is built on reducing risk.
—Daniel R. Depetris, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Sep. 2025
Hair, Paper, Water… emboldens one’s love of this earth and the words used to share it.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 7 Aug. 2025
Appeasement only emboldens extremism.
—Nolan Lebovitz, Oc Register, 5 Aug. 2025
Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 12 Sep. 2025
European heads-of-state may get on their soapboxes daily and talk about the need to defend Ukraine lest a Russian victory emboldens Moscow to attack NATO territory, their Ukraine policy is built on reducing risk.
—Daniel R. Depetris, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Sep. 2025
Hair, Paper, Water… emboldens one’s love of this earth and the words used to share it.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 7 Aug. 2025
Appeasement only emboldens extremism.
—Nolan Lebovitz, Oc Register, 5 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for emboldens
Verb
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What inspires you to make music these days?—
Andre Gee,
Rolling Stone,
2 Oct. 2025
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Take a trip back in time and see how Ali still inspires Louisville 50 years later.—
Ray Padilla,
Louisville Courier Journal,
1 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Avoid over feeding plants, which encourages foliage to grow at the expense of blooms.—
Kim Toscano,
Southern Living,
3 Oct. 2025
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Guadagnino encourages our doubts, shooting Maggie in exaggerated horror-movie closeups set to the doomy bass notes and shrieking winds of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
3 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Emboldens.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/emboldens. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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