reinforce
Americanverb (used with object)
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to strengthen with some added piece, support, or material.
to reinforce a wall.
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to strengthen (a military force) with additional personnel, ships, or aircraft.
to reinforce a garrison.
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to strengthen; make more forcible or effective.
to reinforce efforts.
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to augment; increase.
to reinforce a supply.
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Psychology. to strengthen the probability of (a response to a given stimulus) by giving or withholding a reward.
noun
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something that reinforces.
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a metal band on the rear part of the bore of a gun, where the explosion occurs.
verb
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to give added strength or support to
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to give added emphasis to; stress, support, or increase
his rudeness reinforced my determination
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to give added support to (a military force) by providing more men, supplies, etc
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psychol to reward an action or response of (a human or animal) so that it becomes more likely to occur again
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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reinforcesimple
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reinforcessimple
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have reinforcedperfect
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has reinforcedperfect
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am reinforcingprogressive
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are reinforcingprogressive
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is reinforcingprogressive
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have been reinforcingperfect progressive
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has been reinforcingperfect progressive
Past
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reinforcedsimple
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had reinforcedperfect
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was reinforcingprogressive
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were reinforcingprogressive
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had been reinforcingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reinforce
First recorded in 1590–1600; re- + inforce, alteration of enforce
Explanation
To reinforce means to make stronger. You can reinforce your roof by putting some extra supports under it. Besides a physical structure, there are many things you can reinforce. If you want to reinforce a message, you can say it louder, rephrase and repeat it or give examples of what you expect. You use dog biscuits to reinforce certain behaviors in your dog. Bad experiences will reinforce your fears, good ones your hopes. And when military leaders reinforce their troops, they send additional soldiers to the front.
Vocabulary lists containing reinforce
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 2
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The Language of Standardized Tests, List 2
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The ACT: The Language of the Test, List 2
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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:
“Aramco’s price cuts reinforce market concerns about oversupply and the potential for a price war, as Middle Eastern supply is recovering faster than demand,” said Muyu Xu, senior crude oil analyst at Kpler.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
"When I do the tour and they come in to visit the school, I do reinforce AI is not going to be able to take over our jobs," Cuesta said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
In recent days, international rescue teams from Mexico, Spain, Qatar, the US, and the UK have arrived to reinforce the search efforts.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
Nothing like the World Cup’s unofficial pre-game soundtrack to reinforce this eternal, universal message.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
A vest to reinforce the protection over my vital organs.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
The way their vocals are processed, it often seems like they are recording in a room somewhere far away from where the instruments are being played, which reinforces the songs’ sense of dislocation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
The result, she argues, is often self‑perpetuating - some fertility services don't include men, so men engage less, which reinforces the idea they are simply not interested.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
But that just reinforces Samuel Johnson’s adage that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
A short squeeze could be dangerous since the buying could further drive prices up and kick-start a cycle that reinforces itself.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
She reinforces her force field with intent and bares her teeth.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
By all reports, he certainly reinforced the president’s inclination to join Israel in attacking Iran this past February.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026
That reinforced a "reasonable assumption" that it was "almost exclusively" entities connected to UniCredit that were accepting the offer, Commerzbank said in June.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
It reinforced my feeling that some host cities weren't fully connected to the tournament.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Many on Wall Street have long derided the retail crowd as “dumb money” — a reputation largely earned during the dot-com bubble, and reinforced during the 2021 meme-stock frenzy.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
After that, Nhamo reinforced the thorn-bush barrier around her trees and added a coat of birdlime to the bark.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
In general, these moves by Rockstar might prove enormously successful, reinforcing some of these problematic trends.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
Removal protection was one of the mutually reinforcing design features of independent agencies that promoted stability and bipartisanship.
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026
Crews scooped out a pair of tunnels, reinforcing walls as they advanced.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026
A few weeks later, the 50-day simple moving average turned higher, reinforcing the improving technical picture.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
They often carried steel reinforcing rods to older workmen who tied them together with twine or wire as the dam rose from the riverbed in a checkerboard pattern of concrete blocks.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
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.
