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

With Sam Darnold nursing a quad injury that could hold him out for a few weeks, the Seattle Seahawks are turning to former Broncos quarterback Drew Lock against the Arizona Cardinals. — Sam Jane, Denver Post, 6 Nov. 2026

Ahead of Wednesday night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, Ridly Greig was nursing his own lower-body injury, and Tyler Kleven was too sick to play. — Julian McKenzie, New York Times, 5 Nov. 2026

The Ravens are starting third string QB Joe Fagnano, who is nursing an ankle on a short week after his impromptu debut in Buffalo. — Hank Gola, New York Daily News, 5 Nov. 2026

The whales don’t feed during their months there, so mothers have been nursing while living off fat reserves and need to head north to feeding grounds off New England, Canada, and Greenland. — Sarah Bruning, Travel + Leisure, 5 Nov. 2026

Brents has been nursing a neck/shoulder injury for the past two weeks and re-aggravated it in Sunday’s 28-25 win over the Jets. — Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2026

The Saints could be without star quarterback Brailon Davis who’s nursing an injury, but backup Bodie Brown has stepped in and completed 32 of 45 for 454 yards and seven touchdowns in the past two games. — Darren Lauber, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Oct. 2026

Orlando has spent decades nursing an enormous inferiority complex to the bigger, older, richer, and more historically relevant cities in Florida, the Southeast, and the East Coast. — Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 18 Oct. 2026

Holmes, who is still nursing the younger of the couple’s two small children, is filing challenges to her conviction and taking calls about what to expect in prison. — Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2026