to promote the growth or development of; further; encourage.
to foster new ideas.
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.
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.
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
(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
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
See cherish.
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English fōstor “nourishment,” fōstrian “to nourish”; cognate with Old Norse fōstr; akin to food
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Microfinance aimed to foster prosperity but stoked hardship for those borrowers who took on debt they couldn’t afford.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 11, 2026
At 18, most foster children are aging out of the system and facing an uncertain financial future.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 11, 2026
Hochman’s pause, if granted, would apply only to the abuse cases stemming from juvenile halls, which make up the bulk of the lawsuits, and not the cases arising from foster care or the children’s shelter.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026
The German boss has seemed happy to foster healthy competition between the two boyhood friends, but now decision time is coming.
From BBC • Jun. 11, 2026
We’d been in foster care for just a few months when my grandfather appeared on Miss Doris and Mr. Leo’s doorstep.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
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.
