discouragement
Americannoun
-
an act or instance of discouraging.
- Antonyms:
- encouragement
-
the state of being discouraged.
- Synonyms:
- hopelessness, dejection, depression
- Antonyms:
- encouragement
-
something that discourages.
Poor health and poverty are grave discouragements.
- Synonyms:
- obstruction, obstacle, impediment, damper, deterrent
- Antonyms:
- encouragement
Related Words
See despair.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of discouragement
1555–65; < Middle French descouragement, Old French descoragement. See discourage, -ment
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.
Discouragement has the potential to run deep with Hunter, who hurt his neck in training camp last year and never saw the field.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 3, 2021
Karzai’s cabinet approved a less powerful Department for the Promotion of Virtue and the Discouragement of Vice in 2006 amid pressure from conservatives.
From Washington Post • Sep. 8, 2021
Discouragement is everywhere when everywhere is mapped and watched and regulated.
From Washington Post • Jan. 27, 2015
Discouragement and stress are serious issues for ghost workers.
From Time Magazine Archive
We laboured under some Discouragement; but, through the invisible Power of Truth, our Visit was made reviving to the Lowly-minded, with whom I felt a near Unity of Spirit, being much reduced in my Mind.
From John Woolman's Journal by Woolman, John
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.
