nurture

American  

[nur-cher] / ˈnɜr tʃər /

verb (used with object)

• nurtures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• nurtured,
  past participle,  past
• nurturing
  present participle

1. 

   to feed and protect.

   to nurture one's offspring.

2. to support and encourage, as during the period of training or development; foster.

   to nurture promising musicians.

3. to bring up; train; educate.

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noun

1. rearing, upbringing, training, education, or the like.

2. development.

   the nurture of young artists.

3. something that nourishes; nourishment; food.

nurture British  

/ ˈnɜːtʃə /

noun

1. the act or process of promoting the development, etc, of a child

2. something that nourishes

3. biology the environmental factors that partly determine the structure of an organism See also nature

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verb

1. to feed or support

2. to educate or train

Synonym Usage

See nurse.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nurturer
  noun
• nurturable
  adjective
• nurtureless
  adjective
• unnurtured
  adjective
• well-nurtured
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• nurturing
  present
• nurtured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• nurture
  simple
• nurtures
  simple
• have nurtured
  perfect
• has nurtured
  perfect
• am nurturing
  progressive
• are nurturing
  progressive
• is nurturing
  progressive
• have been nurturing
  perfect progressive
• has been nurturing
  perfect progressive

Past

• nurtured
  simple
• had nurtured
  perfect
• was nurturing
  progressive
• were nurturing
  progressive
• had been nurturing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will nurture
  simple
• will have nurtured
  perfect
• will be nurturing
  progressive
• will have been nurturing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of nurture

First recorded in 1300–50; (noun) Middle English norture, from Middle French, variant of nourriture, from Late Latin nūtrītūra “a nourishing,” equivalent to Latin nūtrīt(us) (past participle of nūtrīre “to feed”) + -ūra noun suffix; see nourish, -ure; (verb) derivative of the noun

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Explanation

If you plant a seed, water it daily and give it lots of light, you nurture it until it is ready to be transplanted outside. When you nurture a person or thing, you care for it and help it to grow. After a fight with your friend, you may have to nurture the relationship a little until you're close again. Use the phrase "nature versus nurture" to help you remember the word. Nature is a baby just out of the womb. Nurture is how that baby is raised or taken care of. Once the child is older, you may wonder if its love of reading is nature or nurture — is it natural born or is it because you read to the baby every night.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nurture nurtures nurtured nurturing

Other Mommy promises to nurture Bela, but clearly she represents the worst type of matriarch imaginable: one who is frightening, controlling and dangerous.

From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026

His dedication to spending time in Mexico, while inconvenient for your relationship, demonstrates that he knows how to manage and nurture his own happiness and isn’t relying on you to satisfy that need.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026

From early in his rap career, he expressed his desire to become a producer so he could sign and nurture other talent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

The passionate Welshman dedicated his second award "to the great and good people of Wales, who were as much a nurture as anyone else".

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

“With no clan to nurture you. Surrounded by strangers.”

From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord

“It is this right that sustains and nurtures our democracy today.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

He correctly wagered that allowing the audience to sit with one of his families inside their living space as they sort life challenges nurtures understanding and empathy.

From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2025

The domestic game nurtures talent and its importance to the sport in our country should not be underestimated.

From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2024

“She’s the mother of the plants and nurtures all of them, and I’m the builder,” Johnsen said.

From Seattle Times ● May 22, 2024

In addition to literature and poetry, Joey nurtures her love of music.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

My nascent cinephilia was nurtured by movies on VHS.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

For Subhrasree, the two-week tour was to be her first pilgrimage, and a dream she had nurtured for years.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

Read: Hardcore gamers nurtured Nvidia and the AI boom.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

This demonstrated that the neuropeptides were not merely associated with caregiving but could actively influence whether an ant nurtured larvae or went searching for food.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026

For three years she must have nurtured a feeling for him, kept it hidden, nourished it with fantasy or embellished it in her stories.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

“But the smell and warmth is very nurturing and comforting.”

From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026

The world’s most valuable company, Nvidia, is nurturing an entirely new asset class to keep chip sales humming.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

"She was begging for help," Clancy's former mother-in-law, Susan Clancy, said of a woman she described as a "very nurturing, very loving" mother.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

“I’ve been able to focus on patient care, research and teaching knowing that my child is thriving in a nurturing learning environment.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

He now made his first appeal to a source he had been carefully nurturing for more than a year.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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