Meanings
present singular third person discourages · participle present discouraging · participle past discouraged · past discouraged
- transitiveTo 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.
1 more example
Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Colossians 3:21Synonyms: dash
- transitiveTo persuade somebody not to do (something).
Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can.
1854, Abraham Lincoln., Notes for a Law Lecture
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits of; to deprive of confidence; to deject.
nounLack of courage
More synonyms by meaning
verbdeprive of courage or hope; take away hope from; cause to feel discouraged
verbadvise or counsel in terms of someone's behavior
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
- Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
- Proto-Indo-European*d(w)is-
- Proto-Italic*dis-
- Latindis-
- Old Frenchdes-
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱerd-
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱḗr ~ *ḱr̥dés
- Proto-Italic*kord
- Latincor n
- Latin*corem
- Vulgar Latin*corāticum
- Old Frenchcorage
- Old Frenchdescouragier
- Middle Frenchdescourager
- Englishdiscourage
From Middle French descourager (modern French décourager), from Old French descouragier, from des- and corage. By surface analysis, dis- + courage.
More words from Middle French, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian обезсърчавам, обезкура́жавам
- обезсърчавам (obezsărčavam)to dishearten
- обезкура́жавам (obezkurážavam)to dishearten
- разубежда́вам (razubeždávam)to persuade somebody not to do something
Catalan desanimar, desalenar
- desanimarto dishearten
- desalenarto dishearten
- descoratjarto dishearten
- dissuadirto persuade somebody not to do something
Chinese Mandarin 令人愁悶 /令人愁闷, 使沮喪 /使沮丧
- 令人愁悶 /令人愁闷 (lìng rén chóumèn)to dishearten
- 使沮喪 /使沮丧 (shǐ jǔsàng)to dishearten
Czech zastrašit, vzít odvahu
- zastrašitto dishearten
- vzít odvahuto dishearten
- odraditto persuade somebody not to do something
Dutch ontmoedigen, ontraden
- ontmoedigento dishearten
- ontradento persuade somebody not to do something
- afraden omto persuade somebody not to do something
Esperanto senkuraĝigi
- senkuraĝigito dishearten
Finnish lannistaa, nujertaa
- lannistaato dishearten
- nujertaato dishearten
- ehkäistäto persuade somebody not to do something
- ehkäistä ennaltato persuade somebody not to do something
French décourager, dissuader
- découragerto dishearten
- dissuaderto persuade somebody not to do something
German entmutigen, abschrecken
- entmutigento dishearten
- abschreckento dishearten
- abratento persuade somebody not to do something
- abraten vonto persuade somebody not to do something
- abbringen vonto persuade somebody not to do something
Greek αποκαρδιώνω, αποθαρρύνω
- αποκαρδιώνω (apokardióno)to dishearten
- αποθαρρύνω (apotharrýno)to dishearten
- αποθαρρύνω (apotharrýno)to persuade somebody not to do something
Hungarian elbátortalanít
- elbátortalanítto dishearten
Italian scoraggiare
- scoraggiareto persuade somebody not to do something
Japanese 落胆させる, がっかりさせる
- 落胆させる (rakutan saseru)to dishearten
- がっかりさせる (gakkari saseru)to dishearten
- 思い止まらせる (omoitodomaraseru)to persuade somebody not to do something
- 抑止する (yokushi suru)to persuade somebody not to do something
Latin dehortor
- dehortorto dishearten
Māori whakapāhunu
- whakapāhunuto dishearten
Norwegian å ikke anbefale
- å ikke anbefaleto persuade somebody not to do something
Persian دِلسَرد کردن, سُست کردن
- دِلسَرد کردنto dishearten
- سُست کردنto dishearten
- بیجُراَت ساختنto dishearten
Polish zniechęcać, zniechęcić
- zniechęcaćto persuade somebody not to do something
- zniechęcićto persuade somebody not to do something
Portuguese desencorajar, desanimar
- desencorajarto dishearten
- desanimarto dishearten
- desalentarto dishearten
- despersuadirto persuade somebody not to do something
- dissuadirto persuade somebody not to do something
- desencorajarto persuade somebody not to do something
Romanian descuraja
- descurajato dishearten
Russian обескура́живать, обескура́жить
- обескура́живать (obeskuráživatʹ)to dishearten
- обескура́жить (obeskurážitʹ)to dishearten
- расхола́живать (rasxoláživatʹ)to dishearten
- расхолоди́ть (rasxolodítʹ)to dishearten
- отбива́ть охо́ту (otbivátʹ oxótu)to dishearten
- отгова́ривать (otgovárivatʹ)to dishearten
- разубежда́ть (razubeždátʹ)to persuade somebody not to do something
- разубеди́ть (razubedítʹ)to persuade somebody not to do something
- отгова́ривать (otgovárivatʹ)to persuade somebody not to do something
- отговори́ть (otgovorítʹ)to persuade somebody not to do something
Spanish descorazonar, acobardar
- descorazonarto dishearten
- acobardarto dishearten
- desanimarto dishearten
- deshuevarto dishearten
- desgüevarto dishearten
- desalentarto persuade somebody not to do something
- disuadirto persuade somebody not to do something
Swedish avskräcka
- avskräckato dishearten
Turkish şevkini kırmak, vazgeçirmek
- şevkini kırmakto dishearten
- vazgeçirmekto persuade somebody not to do something
Cite this entry
discourage. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/discourage
“discourage.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/discourage. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “discourage,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/discourage.
Source: discourage on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.