discourage
Syllables: dis·cour·ageUK/dɪsˈkʌɹɪd͡ʒ//dɪsˈkɝɪd͡ʒ/
discourage verb: to extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits of; to deprive of confidence; to deject.
Verb
discourage (third-person singular simple present discourages, present participle discouraging, simple past and past participle discouraged)
- 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.
- Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Colossians 3:21
- Synonyms:
- dash
- To persuade somebody not to do (something).
- Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can.1854, Abraham Lincoln., Notes for a Law Lecture
Noun
discourage (uncountable)
- Lack of courage
- Synonyms:
- cowardliness
discourage meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
discourage in Tamil
- ஊக்கங்கெடு, தன்னம்பிக்கை இழக்கச் செய், மனத் தளர்வு உண்டாக்கு, அதைரியப்படுத்து
discourage in Marathi
- निरुत्साहित करण्यासाठी
discourage in Urdu
- بددل کرنا, ہمت توڑنا
discourage in Bengali
- নিরুৎসাহিত করা
More languagesFewer languages
- discourage in Telugu
- నిరుత్సాహపరుచు nirutsāhaparucu
- discourage in Malayalam
- അധൈര്യപ്പെടുത്തുക, പിന്തിരിപ്പിക്കുക, നിരുത്സാഹപ്പെടുത്തുക, ക്ഷീണിപ്പിക്കുക
- discourage in Kannada
- ಹೊರೆಗುಂದಿಸು, ಮೊನೆಕೆಡಿಸು, ತಡೆ, ಎದೆಗುಂದಿಸು
- discourage in Punjabi
- ਨਿਰਉਤਸ਼ਾਹਿਤ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
- discourage in Gujarati
- નિરુત્સાહિત કરવા માટે, નિરુત્સાહિત કરવા
- discourage in Nepali
- निरुत्साहित गर्न
- discourage in Persian
- دِلسَرد کردن, سُست کردن, بیجُراَت ساختن
Examples of discourage in a sentence
- For some reason, they discourage loitering outside the store, but encourage it inside.
- We backfilled the cistern with pea gravel to discourage its use as a refuse container.
- Senate confirmation hearings are a real meatgrinder, discouraging people from government service.
Synonyms of discourage
Antonyms
Forms of discourage
| third-person singular present | discourages |
|---|---|
| present participle | discouraging |
| past participle | discouraged |
| past | discouraged |
Origin of discourage
From Middle French descourager (modern French décourager), from Old French descouragier, from des- and corage. By surface analysis, dis- + courage.
Words formed from discourage
Questions about discourage
- What does discourage mean?
- Discourage means to extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits of; to deprive of confidence; to deject.
- What is discourage in Tamil?
- Discourage in Tamil is ஊக்கங்கெடு, தன்னம்பிக்கை இழக்கச் செய், மனத் தளர்வு உண்டாக்கு. See Discourage meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is discourage?
- Discourage can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce discourage?
- Discourage is pronounced /dɪsˈkʌɹɪd͡ʒ/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of discourage?
- The past tense of discourage is discouraged.
Words near discourage in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: discourage (page history and authors); discourage (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); discourage (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); discourage (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); discourage (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); discourage (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); discourage (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); discourage (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); discourage (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); discourage (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-discourage.ogg.
Cite this entry: “discourage.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/discourage. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.