Meaning & use
discourage
Last updated
Meanings
verbtransitive
To make someone feel less confident or less willing to continue.
Grammar: Takes a person as object: discourage someone. Often followed by from + -ing: discourage her from quitting.
Patterns
- discourage someone
- discourage someone from doing something
Don't let one bad result discourage you.
His parents tried to discourage him from dropping out of school.
The negative comments discouraged her, but she kept practicing.
verbtransitive
To try to prevent something by making it less attractive or harder to do.
Grammar: Takes a thing as object: discourage smoking. Often followed by from + -ing: discourage people from driving.
Patterns
- discourage something
- discourage people from doing something
The new tax is meant to discourage the use of plastic bags.
Higher prices may discourage visitors from coming in winter.
The school discourages students from using phones in class.
Word forms
| third person singular | discourages |
|---|---|
| past tense | discouraged |
| past participle | discouraged |
| -ing form | discouraging |
Common combinations
- discourage someone from doing something
- The bad weather discouraged us from going hiking.
- discourage the use of something
- The campaign aims to discourage the use of single-use plastics.
- easily discouraged
- She is not easily discouraged by criticism.
- discourage smoking
- Higher taxes on cigarettes are designed to discourage smoking.
- don't be discouraged
- Don't be discouraged if you don't succeed at first.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dishearten
- Stronger and more literary; it focuses on taking away hope, while discourage can be milder.
- deter
- Often used for preventing actions by making them difficult or unpleasant; discourage is more general.
- put off
- Informal and can mean to delay or to make someone lose interest; discourage is more formal.
Opposites
Word family
- discouraged adjective
- Feeling less confident or hopeful.
- discouraging adjective
- Making someone feel less confident or hopeful.
- discouragement noun
- The feeling of being discouraged, or something that causes it.
Commonly confused: discourage or discourage?
discourage vs discourage
Not the same as 'discourage' vs 'dis courage'; it is one word. Also compare with 'encourage', its opposite.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
The pattern is 'discourage someone from doing something'. 'Discourage to' and 'discourage go' are not correct; 'discourage doing' without 'from' is also wrong here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “discourage”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.