encourage

encourage 1 Encourage, inspirit, hearten, embolden, cheer, nerve, steel mean to fill with courage or strength of purpose especially in preparation for a hard task or purpose.

Encourage in its basic and still common sense implies the raising of confidence to such a height that one dares to do or to bear what is difficult; it then usually suggests an external agent or agency stimulating one to action or endurance

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the teacher's praise encouraged the pupil to try even harder

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whatever appeals to the imagination . . . wonderfully encourages and liberates us— Emerson

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the treatment should begin by encouraging him to utter freely even his most shocking thoughts— Russell

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Sometimes it may suggest merely an increase in strength of purpose or in responsiveness to advice or inducement fostered by a person or an influence or event

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there they listened, and retained what they could remember, for they were not encouraged to take notes— Henry Adams

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Encourage is often used with an impersonal object, sometimes as if the object were a person

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we wish to encourage no vice

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but often as if it were the object not of encourage but of an ellipsis meaning to encourage a person or persons to act (as by doing, making, forming, or using)

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they are donations to education; donations, which any government must be disposed . . . to encourage— John Marshall

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if a state sees fit to encourage steam laundries and discourage hand laundries, that is its own affair— Justice Holmes

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Inspirit is chiefly literary; it retains its implication of putting spirit into, especially in the sense of life, energy, courage, or vigor, and therefore often comes close to enliven or to animate in meaning

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those great men, who, by their writings, inspirited the people to resistance— Buckle

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the early tea which was to inspirit them for the dance— George Eliot

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how inspiriting to escape from here and now and wander wildly in a world of lutes and roses— Woolf

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the book is an astonishing and inspiriting record of what human ingenuity can accomplish— Basil Davenport

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Hearten implies a putting heart into and carries suggestions that are stronger than those carried by either encourage or inspirit. It presupposes a state of low courage, depression, despondency, or indifference and therefore implies a lifting of mind or spirit that rouses one with fresh courage or zeal

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gifts . . . which both strengthen our resources and hearten our endeavors— Conant

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people . . . who were merry or wise or comforting or revealing, whose presence either heartened the spirit or kindled the mind— Jan Struther

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Embolden implies a giving of boldness to or, more especially, a giving of just enough courage or bravery to do what one wants to do or is expected to do and suggests not brazenness but the overcoming of timidity or reluctance

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she was emboldened to descend and meet him under the protection of visitors— Austen

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iemboldened by the utter stillness pervading the room he addressed himself to Mrs. Fyne— Conrad

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Cheer in its basic sense is very close to hearten and implies a renewing of flagging strength of mind, body, or spirit

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drink the cup that cheers

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my royal father, cheer these noble lords and hearten those that fight in your defense— Shak.

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But cheer (usually with on) may also imply a more vigorous encouraging (as by applause, commendation, or aid) intended not merely to strengthen and refresh but to stimulate to the utmost or sometimes to an ultimate attempt to do, succeed, or conquer

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cheering on the home team

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as to some great advent'rous fight this bravo cheers these dastards all he can— Daniel

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Nerve comes close to embolden in meaning, but it implies a harder task to be performed and the need of summoning all one's powers to accomplish it; the term therefore connotes greater effort or greater impulsion from within than the other words

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the open resistance of the northern barons nerved the rest of their order to action— J. R. Green

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nerving myself with the thought that if I got crushed by the fall I should probably escape a lingering and far more painful death, I dropped into the cloud of foliage beneath me— Hudson

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Steel, like nerve, may imply a great effort or impulsion from within, but it often also suggests an imparting from without, either of which gives a man the power to endure or to accomplish something by making him insensible to pain, suffering, or insults, and by filling him with resolution or determination

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O God of battles, steel my soldiers' hearts, possess them not with fear— Shak.

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Analogous words: stimulate, excite, *provoke, quicken, pique, galvanize: *strengthen, fortify, energize, invigorate: rally, *stir

Antonyms: discourage

Contrasted words: dishearten, dispirit, deject (see DISCOURAGE)

2 *favor, countenance

Analogous words: sanction, endorse, *approve: *incite, instigate, abet: *induce, prevail

Antonyms: discourage

Contrasted words: deter, *dissuade, divert: '"restrain, inhibit