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- Dictionarydiscourage/dɪˈskʌrɪdʒ/
verb
- 1. cause (someone) to lose confidence or enthusiasm: "tedious regulations could discourage investors" Similar Opposite
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to try to prevent something from happening or someone from doing something, or to have the effect of making something less likely: We tried to discourage him from spending so much money. Higher taxes could discourage business investment.
When you discourage someone, you try to talk them out of doing something, by pointing out reasons why their planned action would be unwise. The verb discourage has roots in the French word descouragier, which comes from des-, meaning “away,” and corage, or “courage.”
1. : to deprive of courage or confidence : dishearten. was discouraged by repeated failure. 2. a. : to hinder by disfavoring. trying to discourage absenteeism. b. : to dissuade or attempt to dissuade from doing something. tried to discourage her from going. discourageable. di-ˈskər-i-jə-bəl. -ˈskə-ri- adjective. discourager noun. discouragingly.
To discourage is to dishearten by expressing disapproval or by suggesting that a contemplated action or course will probably fail: He was discouraged from going into business. To dismay is to dishearten completely: Her husband's philandering dismayed her.
to try to prevent something from happening or someone from doing something, or to have the effect of making something less likely: We tried to discourage him from spending so much money. Higher taxes could discourage business investment.
1. to deprive of courage, hope, or confidence; dispirit. 2. to dissuade (usu. fol. by from ). 3. to obstruct by opposition or difficulty; hinder. 4. to express disapproval of; frown upon.
To discourage is to dishearten by expressing disapproval or by suggesting that a contemplated action or course will probably fail: He was discouraged from going into business. To dismay is to dishearten completely: Her husband's philandering dismayed her.
to try to prevent something or to prevent somebody from doing something, especially by making it difficult to do or by showing that you do not approve of it. discourage (doing) something a campaign to discourage smoking among teenagers.
To dissuade or deter (someone) from doing something. My adviser discouraged me from applying to big universities. American Heritage. To prevent or try to prevent by disapproving or raising objections or obstacles. Webster's New World. Similar definitions. More Verb Definitions (1) Synonyms: deter. monish. admonish. warn. oppose. obstruct. inhibit.
v.t. to deprive of courage, hope, or confidence; dishearten; dispirit. to dissuade (usually fol. by from). to obstruct by opposition or difficulty; hinder: Low prices discourage industry. to express or make clear disapproval of; frown upon: to discourage the expression of enthusiasm. v.i.
