- past participle of discourage.
- past tense form of discourage.
discouraged
Americanadjective
-
deprived of or lacking in courage, hope, or confidence.
The discouraged writer discarded the poem, but it was retrieved by a young soldier who sent it off for publication.
Another discouraged mother reported that she had no friends with whom to share childcare duties.
-
dissuaded or obstructed from doing something.
A third of the discouraged firms would probably have qualified for loans had they applied.
A discouraged worker is one who wants to work but is not looking for a job because of a perceived lack of demand.
-
disapproved of.
Climbing on the safety railing is a strongly discouraged activity.
We consider payday lenders to be a discouraged industry.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of discouraged
Explanation
If you work and work on a project and never seem to make any progress, you may feel discouraged, meaning your enthusiasm and optimism have been replaced by doubt and negativity. If you’ve ever felt discouraged, you won’t be surprised to learn that the word’s French origins refer to courage that has being taken away. The adjective describes people who no longer feel that good things will happen, such as discouraged job-seekers, who despite sending hundreds of applications to prospective employers, never get any responses. They may have "lost the courage" to keep looking for work.
Vocabulary lists containing discouraged
List 2
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"Lunch or Junk?" and "Food Deserts"
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List 3
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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.
But the head of the dig discouraged him from learning this "very difficult" script, which borrowed its cuneiform alphabet from Assyrian.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
New graduates lament that while their college professors discouraged the use of AI tools, hiring managers applaud it.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
The state also alleges Amazon discouraged unionization by terminating or threatening to terminate delivery contractors whose workers attempted to organize and restricted competition among contractors through policies that prevented them from recruiting each other’s drivers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
The report also said free-range egg production should be discouraged in affected areas, and that there should be periodic potato testing in contaminated places too.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
As much as I try to tell myself this exam doesn’t count, I get more discouraged with each question.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
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.
