discouragement
Americannoun
-
discouragements
plural
-
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
Synonym Usage
See despair.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
These mistakes, he argues, could lead to stigma and discouragement within local communities as they feel helpless.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
While ChatGPT occasionally offered discouragement, only the chatbots from Snap and Anthropic reliably refused these requests, according to the researchers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026
The responses from San Francisco, both to Benioff and Trump, came swiftly, ranging from calm discouragement to full-blown outrage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2025
I want to address the discouragement and fear that many who care about democracy and peace and human rights are feeling in America and around the world right now.
From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2025
“No,” she said with discouragement, “something turned them away, but I’m afraid it wasn’t my spell.”
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
Now his experimentalism and transnationalism aren’t discouragements but invitations to a larger global audience.
From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2023
We shouldn't let our current discouragements lead us to think that progress doesn't exist or that it's not possible.
From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2022
A player who understands the disappointments and discouragements that not just Capitals fans, but a generation of Washington fans carry deep in their hearts.
From Washington Times ● May 6, 2018
This comes on top of other discouragements to growth.
From Economist ● Mar. 1, 2018
But they do not need many allowances, if it will only be remembered under what discouragements they labored and how much they accomplished.
From The Thirteenth Greatest of Centuries by James J. (James Joseph) Walsh
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.
