reinforcement

[ree-in-fawrs-muhnt, -fohrs-]

noun

1. the act of reinforcing.

2. the state of being reinforced.

3. something that reinforces or strengthens.

4. Often reinforcements. an additional supply of personnel, ships, aircraft, etc., for a military force.

5. a system of steel bars, strands, wires, or mesh for absorbing the tensile and shearing stresses in concrete work.

6. Psychology.

   1. a procedure, as a reward or punishment, that alters a response to a stimulus.

   2. the act of reinforcing a response.

Other Word Forms

• nonreinforcement noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of reinforcement¹

First recorded in 1600–10; reinforce + -ment

Example Sentences

It was a social phenomenon shaped by imitation, ideology and institutional reinforcement.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The key supply and transport hub provides supplies and reinforcements to the eastern front - and it would get Moscow closer to occupying the entirety of the Donetsk region.

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A resident of the Harem region, where the camp is located near the Turkish border, told AFP he had seen government forces bringing reinforcements to the area beginning Tuesday and had heard explosions.

Read more on Barron's

I look for reinforcement for the institution of marriage wherever I can find it.

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Before they could move, though, Hamas returned with reinforcements.

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Related Words

• aid