reinforcement

American  

[ree-in-fawrs-muhnt, -fohrs-] / ˌri ɪnˈfɔrs mənt, -ˈfoʊrs- /

noun

reinforcements plural

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.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonreinforcement
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• reinforcements
  plural

Etymology

Origin of reinforcement

First recorded in 1600–10; reinforce + -ment

Explanation

Reinforcement is a way to learn and remember things, like a student who repeats the facts he has studied for a test over and over, or the ways we praise children when they share their toys or say "please" and "thank you" — reinforcement of the good manners we want them to use. You’ll often hear the word reinforcement used in relation to a building or other structure that gets additional mechanical support, but the word can be used in a broader sense as well. In addition to strengthening walls, reinforcement can refer to the strengthening or propping up of an argument or a particular point of view. For example, if you show up in class every day and ask questions, that adds reinforcement to the notion that you’re a diligent student.

Example Sentences

"Reinforcement learning is an ideal approach because you just need to know how quickly the bacteria are growing, which is relatively easy to determine," explains Dr. Weaver.

From Science Daily • Apr. 24, 2024

Reinforcement learning is a machine-learning, trial-and-error approach in which the computer takes actions and gets feedback about which work better in order to learn how to accomplish an objective.

From Salon • Jun. 4, 2023

Reinforcement learning: A technique that teaches an A.I. model to find the best result by trial and error, receiving rewards or punishments from an algorithm based on its results.

From New York Times • Mar. 27, 2023

Reinforcement of soldiers and police cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to nab the attackers.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 16, 2022

Cement 3.859 Reinforcement 4.959 Labor, mixing and placing concrete 1.721 Forms, labor and material 2.960 ———     Total $17.509 In constructing the roof slab the expanded metal reinforcement raised the unit cost.

From Concrete Construction Methods and Costs by Gillette, Halbert Powers

Related Words

• aid