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

Fiji's Selestino Ravutaumada was nursing the rolling ball when Adams reached between his legs and touched it down for a try. — ABC News, 4 July 2026

The Americans, playing in front of a frenzied crowed on home soil in the San Francisco Bay Area, were down a man and nursing a 1-0 lead. — Chris Biderman, Sacbee.com, 2 July 2026

Rescuers named him Irving and have been nursing him back to health ever since. — Liz Gray, USA Today, 2 July 2026

Rushing has become the team’s primary catcher with Will Smith nursing a neck problem, and his value to the club as a hitter remains immense. — Stephen J. Nesbitt, New York Times, 30 June 2026

The evidence suggests helping people with physical and cognitive limitations stay home costs states less than the alternative, which is nursing home care. — Howard Gleckman, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026

Christian Pulisic, nursing a calf injury, may not play, and several players with yellow cards (Folarin Balogun, Antonee Robinson, Chris Richards and Tyler Adams) likely won't see the field at all. — Russell Lewis, NPR, 22 June 2026

With Christian Pulisic unavailable, nursing a calf injury sustained against Paraguay, he was joined up top by Ricardo Pepi, and showed his versatility and comfort across the width of the field. — Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 20 June 2026

So while Pulisic, who is nursing a calf injury, was missed, he wasn’t needed. — Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2026