Meanings
- uncountableeducationLearning that occurs through reinforcement, especially through rewards, encouragement, or other consequences that strengthen desired behaviours.
- uncountablemachine learningA machine-learning paradigm in which a model or agent learns by taking actions and receiving reward signals that indicate how well those actions achieve a desired objective.
This basic “reinforcement learning” system was a small step in the direction of AI: a program that adjusted its program—that was capable of learning.
2026, Sebastian Mallaby, chapter 2, in The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence, Penguin, →ISBN2 more examples
Reinforcement learning can be seen as somewhere between supervised and unsupervised learning. The learning system receives a feedback for its actions, but it is not provided with examples to learn from.
2010, Lutz Frommberger, Qualitative Spatial Abstraction in Reinforcement Learning, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 10Let us look more deeply at reinforcement learning, to see what it means to learn from our own actions. Reinforcement learning is a field in which an agent learns by interacting with an environment.
2022, Aske Plaat, Deep Reinforcement Learning, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 3Synonyms: RL
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA machine-learning paradigm in which a model or agent learns by taking actions and receiving reward signals that indicate how well those actions achieve a desired objective.
Translations
Bulgarian обучение с утвърждение
- обучение с утвърждение (obučenie s utvărždenie)Translations
Chinese Mandarin 強化學習 /强化学习
- 強化學習 /强化学习 (qiánghuà xuéxí)Translations
Finnish vahvistusoppiminen
- vahvistusoppiminenTranslations
French apprentissage par renforcement
- apprentissage par renforcementTranslations
German bestärkendes Lernen
- bestärkendes LernenTranslations
Italian apprendimento per rinforzo
- apprendimento per rinforzoTranslations
Norwegian Bokmål forsterkende læring
- forsterkende læringTranslations
Polish uczenie przez wzmacnianie, uczenie posiłkowane
- uczenie przez wzmacnianieTranslations
- uczenie posiłkowaneTranslations
Swedish förstärkningsinlärning
- förstärkningsinlärningTranslations
Cite this entry
reinforcement learning. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reinforcement%20learning
“reinforcement learning.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reinforcement%20learning. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “reinforcement learning,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reinforcement%20learning.
Source: reinforcement learning on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.