foster
verb (used with object)
to promote the growth or development of; further; encourage.
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foster
1 American
[faw-ster, fos-ter]
/ ˈfɔ stər, ˈfɒs tər /
verb (used with object)
-
fosters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fostered,
past participle, past
-
fostering
present participle
-
to promote the growth or development of; further; encourage.
to foster new ideas.
- Antonyms:
- discourage
-
to care for a foster child or a pet as a temporary guardian.
The couple fostered two boys until they could be reunited with their birth parents.
Have you ever fostered a kitten that you just couldn’t part from afterwards?
-
to care for or cherish.
-
British. to place (a child) in a foster home.
-
Obsolete. to feed or nourish.
Foster
2
American
[faw-ster, fos-ter]
/ ˈfɔ stər, ˈfɒs tər /
noun
-
Stephen (Collins), 1826–64, U.S. songwriter.
-
William Z(ebulon) 1881–1961, U.S. labor organizer: leader in the Communist Party.
-
a male given name.
foster
1
British
/ ˈfɒstə /
verb
-
to promote the growth or development of
-
to bring up (a child, etc); rear
-
to cherish (a plan, hope, etc) in one's mind
-
-
to place (a child) in the care of foster parents
-
to bring up under fosterage
-
adjective
-
(in combination) indicating relationship through fostering and not through birth
foster mother
foster child
-
(in combination) of or involved in the rearing of a child by persons other than his natural or adopted parents
foster home
Foster
2
British
/ ˈfɒstə /
noun
-
Jodie . born 1962, US film actress and director: her films include Taxi Driver (1976), The Accused (1988), The Silence of the Lambs (1990), Little Man Tate (1991; also directed), Nell (1995), and Panic Room (2002)
-
Norman , Baron. born 1935, British architect. His works include the Willis Faber building (1978) in Ipswich, Stansted Airport, Essex (1991), Chek Lap Kok Airport, Hong Kong (1998), the renovation of the Reichstag, Berlin (1999), and City Hall, London (2002)
-
Stephen Collins . 1826–64, US composer of songs such as The Old Folks at Home and Oh Susanna
Synonym Usage
See cherish.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fostersimple
-
fosterssimple
-
have fosteredperfect
-
has fosteredperfect
-
am fosteringprogressive
-
are fosteringprogressive
-
is fosteringprogressive
-
have been fosteringperfect progressive
-
has been fosteringperfect progressive
Past
-
fosteredsimple
-
had fosteredperfect
-
was fosteringprogressive
-
were fosteringprogressive
-
had been fosteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of foster
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English fōstor “nourishment,” fōstrian “to nourish”; cognate with Old Norse fōstr; akin to food
Explanation
To foster is to nurture something. A teacher could foster creativity by providing crayons to every student. You can also foster a child, which means the child lives in your home for a time. You may have seen photos of a cat taking care of a baby rabbit, or a pig nursing a litter of puppies: those are little foster families. Foster can be a verb (to foster someone or something) or an adjective used to describe a foster family, child, or parent. The word is from the Old English fostrian meaning "to supply with food, nourish, support," which sounds like what those mama hogs were doing. Unlike adopt, foster has a time limit.
Vocabulary lists containing foster
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It's All in the Family
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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:
Jackson entered the race in February and presented himself as a political outsider who had grown up in Georgia's foster care system.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026
Health Minister Robbie Butler has first-hand experience of providing foster care and said he would like to encourage people to come forward to foster.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
If you are interested in becoming a foster carer, contact your local fostering service.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
Safety Quentin Lake and cornerback Trent McDuffie intercepted passes to foil a Justin Herbert-led offense that went into the game as the NFL’s lowest-scoring outfit and did little to foster reason for optimism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
Though he was raised by an impoverished working-class couple—his foster father was a glazier—it turns out that his birth father was a general and his mother was an aristocrat.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Placed next to her at a dinner party, the Irish historian Roy Foster began telling her how much he liked her novels and was instantly cut short.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Lyndsi Foster saw a TikTok video about the cruise last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
He played alongside David Foster in the band for the original “Rocky Horror” stage show and took a job once held by Barry Manilow to serve as Bette Midler’s musical director.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
Alexandrou said Foster was held in custody for eight days immediately after the incident and had to call his daughter from custody to explain what had happened.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Henry Foster patted the Assistant Predestinator on the shoulder.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
The hands-off approach empowers her top talent and fosters trust between her executive team and the board of directors, Tomé told the WSJ Leadership Institute’s Alan Murray.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
But instead of the traditional cutthroat audition setting, where every actor silently sizes up the competition, the Brook Arts Center fosters a warm environment.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
Dresser wanted a Dutch door — one where both the top and bottom halves swing open independently — attached to their office space, where they sometimes isolate fosters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Along with giving tweens and teens something to look forward to, recess encourages movement, builds social confidence, and fosters a sense of community, which are all vital to healthy development.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
The discovery enterprise is no more universal than cricket or baseball or soccer; it is peculiar to the post-Columbus world, and it can only survive within a society which fosters competition.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
But the museum has not yet fostered an ideal environment for them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
The growing attractiveness of Madrid has fostered an influx of wealth, especially in real estate -- but the bonanza has come at a cost.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
"Fostering definitely saved my life. If I wasn't fostered I don't know who I'd have ended up with," said Amy Burns, who was there for the launch at Downing Street.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
The cordial relationship Mamdani has fostered with the Trump administration also seemed at risk of unraveling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The divisiveness among scientific disciplines, especially between the basic sciences and the applied science of medicine, was then fostered deliberately by medical schools.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
"It's been fostering a sense of impunity on the part of the Egyptian authorities that we're seeing play out," he told the BBC.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Institutions also play a role in fostering that love, too.
From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026
That means fostering investment, raising productivity and enabling wage growth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
Half a century later, Berg is the one happily fostering young talent.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
"He was planning to send the boy to Dragonstone for fostering, you know . . . oh, but I'm speaking out of turn."
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
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