discourage
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle French descourager (modern French décourager), from Old French descouragier, from des- and corage. By surface analysis, dis- + courage.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /dɪsˈkʌɹɪd͡ʒ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /dɪsˈkɝɪd͡ʒ/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: dis‧cour‧age
Verb
[edit]discourage (third-person singular simple present discourages, present participle discouraging, simple past and past participle discouraged)
- (transitive) To extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits of; to deprive of confidence; to deject.
- Don't be discouraged by the amount of work left to do: you'll finish it in good time.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Colossians 3:21:
- Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
- (transitive) To persuade somebody not to do (something).
- 1854, Abraham Lincoln., Notes for a Law Lecture:
- Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can.
Synonyms
[edit]Antonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to dishearten
|
to persuade somebody not to do something
|
Noun
[edit]discourage (uncountable)
- (rare) Lack of courage
Synonyms
[edit]- (lack of courage): cowardliness
Further reading
[edit]- “discourage”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms prefixed with dis-
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English terms with rare senses