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# discourage

«discourage» in Mova's school dictionary: **To make someone feel less confident or less hopeful** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (discourage, discourages, discouraged, discouraging)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To make someone feel less confident or less hopeful. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discourage/#m1)

2) To try to stop someone from doing something by showing them it is not a good idea: «discourage someone from doing». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discourage/#m2)

3) To make something less likely to happen: «Fences discourage burglars.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discourage/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In stories and everyday life, a bad mark can discourage a pupil, but teachers encourage them to keep going. In safety and science, things are done to discourage pests, litter or crime: «Lights discourage burglars», «Netting discourages birds». Phrases: «discourage from», «don't be discouraged», «easily discouraged».

### examples

- Don't let one bad score discourage you. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discourage/#x1)
- Signs discourage people from dropping litter. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discourage/#x2)
- Her parents discouraged her from swimming in the cold sea. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discourage/#x3)
- Bright lights discourage burglars. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discourage/#x4)
- The rain didn't discourage the fans from coming. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discourage/#x5)
- He was discouraged when his tower fell down again. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discourage/#x6)
- She knew that it was for her boy’s good that he should leave her now, and she must not discourage him just as he was setting out. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discourage/#x7)

### note

Opposite: «encourage». Pattern: «discourage someone from + -ing» (not «to»). Adjective: «discouraging»/«discouraged»; noun: «discouragement».

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «discourage» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discourage/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.