Synonyms of nursing

nursing

verb

present participle of nurse

1

as in healing

to attend to the needs and comforts of

willingly lent a hand to nurse his grandmother in her final years, helping her get from one room to the other and making sure she was warm

Synonyms & Similar Words

• healing
• mothering
• treating
• administering (to)
• ministering (to)
• looking out for
• looking after
• supporting
• looking to
• aiding
• waiting on
• doing for
• taking care of
• seeing to
• caring (for)
• curing
• preserving
• conserving
• doctoring
• spoiling
• remedying
• providing (for)
• catering (to)
• babying
• pampering
• coddling
• mollycoddling
• humoring
• indulging

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• ignoring
• neglecting
• forgetting
• overlooking
• brushing (aside or off)
• slighting

2

as in suckling

to give milk to from the breast

a new mother's decision to nurse her baby

Synonyms & Similar Words

• suckling
• breast-feeding
• bottle-feeding
• wet-nursing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• weaning

3

as in having

to keep in one's mind or heart

he continues to nurse a tender affection for his first girlfriend

Synonyms & Similar Words

• having
• holding
• retaining
• entertaining
• harboring
• keeping
• cherishing
• cultivating
• maintaining
• carrying
• holding on to
• bearing
• fostering
• nurturing
• sustaining
• remembering
• hugging
• hanging on to
• supporting
• preserving
• clinging (to)
• sticking (to)
• treasuring
• cleaving (to)
• brooding (about or over)
• obsessing (about or over)
• fixating (on or upon)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• ignoring
• neglecting
• forgetting
• dropping
• declining
• disregarding
• denying
• overlooking
• refusing
• rejecting
• abandoning
• quitting
• repudiating
• discarding
• forsaking
• parting (with)
• renouncing
• giving up
• deserting
• scorning
• throwing out
• disdaining
• abjuring
• erasing
• expunging

4

as in spoiling

to treat with great or excessive care

nursed his sprained ankle for the rest of the week

Synonyms & Similar Words

• spoiling
• indulging
• dandling
• mothering
• babying
• pampering
• mollycoddling
• pleasing
• coddling
• cosseting
• wet-nursing
• cockering
• appeasing
• satisfying
• delighting
• humoring
• catering (to)
• contenting
• soothing
• gratifying
• obliging
• placating
• pacifying
• gladdening
• mollifying

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• abusing
• controlling
• restraining
• disciplining
• maltreating
• mistreating
• manhandling
• misusing
• mishandling
• neglecting
• oppressing
• ill-using
• ill-treating
• violating
• overlooking
• hurting
• molesting
• slighting
• harassing
• tormenting
• torturing
• harming
• injuring
• victimizing
• outraging
• persecuting

5

as in raising

to bring to maturity through care and education

as foster parents they accepted and nursed 16 needy children over the years

Synonyms & Similar Words

• raising
• fostering
• breeding
• nurturing
• teaching
• feeding
• rearing
• promoting
• watching
• educating
• nourishing
• bringing up
• attending
• cultivating
• training
• mothering
• schooling
• disciplining
• ministering (to)
• fathering
• instructing
• cradling
• supplying
• mentoring
• leading
• preparing
• tutoring
• providing (for)
• guiding
• caring (for)
• furthering
• enlightening
• advancing
• showing
• forwarding
• minding
• indoctrinating
• shepherding
• edifying
• directing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• abusing
• ignoring
• mistreating
• maltreating
• neglecting
• mishandling
• ill-using
• hurting
• ill-treating
• injuring
• harming

6

as in promoting

to help the growth or development of

her teachers did much to nurse her literary talent

Synonyms & Similar Words

• promoting
• encouraging
• cultivating
• fostering
• nurturing
• advancing
• furthering
• assisting
• forwarding
• advocating
• incubating
• nourishing
• supporting
• funding
• financing
• aiding
• endorsing
• advertising
• underwriting
• upholding
• backing
• subsidizing
• championing
• publicizing
• working (for)
• patronizing
• boosting
• abetting
• plugging
• staking
• endowing
• agitating (for)
• campaigning (for)
• touting

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• preventing
• discouraging
• hindering
• inhibiting
• prohibiting
• fighting
• frustrating
• opposing
• forbidding
• proscribing
• banning
• combating
• outlawing
• barring
• battling
• enjoining
• contending (with)
• countering
• interdicting
• checking
• stifling
• suppressing
• subduing
• repressing
• squashing
• interfering (with)
• retarding
• arresting
• halting
• impeding
• obstructing
• hobbling
• squelching
• encumbering
• snuffing (out)
• shackling
• manacling
• fettering

7

as in conserving

to use or give out in stingy amounts

he carefully nursed his energy during the marathon so that he would have something left for the final stretch

Synonyms & Similar Words

• conserving
• sparing
• preserving
• skimping (on)
• scanting
• doling out
• stinting (on)
• rationing (out)
• meting (out)
• shortchanging
• portioning (out)
• pinching

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• pouring
• showering
• raining
• heaping
• lavishing

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of nursing

Nose tackle Bobby Brown returned to practice Monday after nursing a hamstring injury throughout the first week of camp. — Mike Kaye august 4, Charlotte Observer, 4 Aug. 2026

More scientifically referred to as retrograde duct flow, this is the mechanism by which breastfeeding babies shoot spit into the nipple of whomever is nursing them. — Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 29 July 2026

Santa Barbara Zoo stated on July 20 that the cub who recently died had stopped nursing. — Raven Brunner, PEOPLE, 28 July 2026

An eleven-year-old girl sat in a shelter in Sri Lanka, nursing a six-month-old son, waiting out a court case that would run seven years. — Afdhel Aziz, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026

The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest since January 2025, and equities — already nursing a roughly $500 billion loss from Tesla and Alphabet's AI spending plans — logged their worst session in a month. — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 24 July 2026

Chris Weatherspoon Tottenham Hotspur Had Pedro Porro not signed a contract extension three days into the tournament, Tottenham may now be nursing a post-World Cup headache. — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 24 July 2026

Still nursing your Odyssey-in-Imax hangover or still trying to see it? — Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 24 July 2026

Bordelon first learned about nursing through his aunt, who was a nurse. — Andrea Hsu, NPR, 21 July 2026