discourage
Americanverb (used with object)
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to deprive of courage, hope, or confidence; dishearten; dispirit.
- Antonyms:
- encourage
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to dissuade (usually followed byfrom ).
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to obstruct by opposition or difficulty; hinder.
Low prices discourage industry.
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to express or make clear disapproval of; frown upon.
to discourage the expression of enthusiasm.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to deprive of the will to persist in something
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to inhibit; prevent
this solution discourages rust
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to oppose by expressing disapproval
Synonym Usage
Discourage, dismay, intimidate mean to dishearten or frighten. To discourage is to dishearten by expressing disapproval or by suggesting that a contemplated action or course will probably fail: He was discouraged from going into business. To dismay is to dishearten completely: Her husband's philandering dismayed her. To intimidate is to frighten, as by threats of force, violence, or dire consequences: to intimidate a witness.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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discouragementnoun
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discouragernoun
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overdiscourageverb (used with object)
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prediscourageverb (used with object)
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discourageableadjective
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undiscourageableadjective
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undiscouragingadjective
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discouraginglyadverb
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undiscouraginglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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discouragesimple
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discouragessimple
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have discouragedperfect
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has discouragedperfect
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am discouragingprogressive
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are discouragingprogressive
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is discouragingprogressive
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have been discouragingperfect progressive
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has been discouragingperfect progressive
Past
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discouragedsimple
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had discouragedperfect
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was discouragingprogressive
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were discouragingprogressive
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had been discouragingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of discourage
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English discoragen, from Middle French descorager, Old French descoragier; see dis- 1, courage
Explanation
If your friend is thinking about quitting her job and moving to the Peruvian Andes to raise llamas, you might discourage her by pointing out that she’s allergic to llamas and also afraid of heights. When you discourage someone, you try to talk them out of doing something, by pointing out reasons why their planned action would be unwise. The verb discourage has roots in the French word descouragier, which comes from des-, meaning “away,” and corage, or “courage.” So when you discourage someone, you can think of it as taking his courage — or enthusiasm — away.
Vocabulary lists containing discourage
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Ball later clarified that he wasn’t advocating for the U.S. government to discourage Chinese AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Bishop said he doesn’t necessarily discourage clients from holding company stock, but advises them to think about it hard.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
According to Shanker, limited culling may sometimes discourage wild animals from entering human-dominated areas more effectively than several other approaches currently in use.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
What the reforms would discourage is the strategic use of firings to immobilize the commissions themselves.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026
The children were quite skilled at identifying animal tracks in the snow, although Penelope had to discourage them from actually sniffing their way along the ground.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
Canadian and Mexican officials as well as members of Congress saw this coming, warning during the original hearings that a mandatory review clause would create the uncertainty that discourages investment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
However, colonoscopies -- the primary screening method used today -- can be costly and uncomfortable, which discourages many people from getting tested on time.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 9, 2026
They highlight that restrictive zoning is largely to blame for underproduction relative to job growth and concur that rent control is counterproductive as it discourages the addition of supply, even with strong demand.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
The EU's McGrath said the new regime would help companies avoid navigating 27 legal systems, which "slows growth, increases costs and often discourages companies from scaling up across Europe".
From Barron's ● Mar. 18, 2026
Any system that constricts teachers—holds them to small-bore metrics, punishes them for forces outside their control, discourages their creativity and spontaneity, chips away at their humanity—is a bad system.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
The commission is not discouraged by any of this data.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
"We will never be discouraged, we will always fight," she told crowds at a party event at the weekend.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
Nearly all my cousins still live in O.C., buying homes on blue-collar salaries and seeing their children off to colleges we didn’t have the opportunity to attend because we were discouraged by our parents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2026
Maize prices slid 6.2%, as strong output in South America boosted supply, while lower oil prices discouraged farmers from diverting crops to make biofuels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
That discouraged me far more than any threat or show of anger could have done.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
Economists have traditionally believed that monetary policy influences the business cycle primarily by encouraging or discouraging investment.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
The government has intensified actions to curb kidnapping, including introducing measures aimed at discouraging ransom payments.
From BBC ● May 31, 2026
Finding out your coworker earns more than you can be discouraging and may make you question your own worth.
From MarketWatch ● May 20, 2026
Companies including Lyft, DaVita and GitLab are navigating the challenge of AI agent proliferation—hoping to tamp down on the problem without discouraging AI use, they told The Wall Street Journal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
The inward person doth shrink and hesitate before the daunting inception of active deeds, wishing that some discouraging voice should intervene and forbid, so that no hazard might be made.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.