Discourage

//dɪsˈkʌɹɪd͡ʒ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Lack of courage rare, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits of; to deprive of confidence; to deject. transitive

    "Don't be discouraged by the amount of work left to do: you'll finish it in good time."

  2. 2
    advise or counsel in terms of someone's behavior wordnet
  3. 3
    To persuade somebody not to do (something). transitive

    "Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can."

  4. 4
    try to prevent; show opposition to wordnet
  5. 5
    deprive of courage or hope; take away hope from; cause to feel discouraged wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
deterdeterdissuadeadmonishafflictanticipate

Example

More examples

"Don't let this discourage you from trying it again."

Etymology

From Middle French descourager (modern French décourager), from Old French descouragier, from des- and corage. By surface analysis, dis- + courage.

More for "discourage"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.