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foster

[faw-ster, fos-ter]
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verb (used with object)
  1. to promote the growth or development of; further; encourage: to foster new ideas.
  2. to bring up, raise, or rear, as a foster child.
  3. to care for or cherish.
  4. British. to place (a child) in a foster home.
  5. Obsolete. to feed or nourish.
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Origin of foster

before 1000; Middle English; Old English fōstor nourishment, fōstrian to nourish; cognate with Old Norse fōstr; akin to food
Related formsfos·ter·er, nounfos·ter·ing·ly, adverbun·fos·tered, adjectiveun·fos·ter·ing, adjective

Synonyms

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1. favor, forward, advance; foment, instigate. 2. nurse, nourish, sustain, support, maintain.

Synonym study

3. See cherish.

Antonyms

1. discourage.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for fostered

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The divine appetite once fostered, let it select its own food.

  • They said it "poisoned the soil" and fostered the growth of weeds.

    The Age of Invention

    Holland Thompson

  • We have—you have disproved the love I was so presumptuous as to believe you fostered for me.

  • Yet I blame not thee, but thy Sicilian mother, who has fostered this hostility in thee.

    The Sea-Hawk

    Raphael Sabatini

  • Hence a whole world of falsehood and dissimulation was fostered.

    St. Patrick's Eve

    Charles James Lever

British Dictionary definitions for fostered

foster

verb (tr)
  1. to promote the growth or development of
  2. to bring up (a child, etc); rear
  3. to cherish (a plan, hope, etc) in one's mind
  4. mainly British
    1. to place (a child) in the care of foster parents
    2. to bring up under fosterage
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adjective
  1. (in combination) indicating relationship through fostering and not through birthfoster mother; foster child
  2. (in combination) of or involved in the rearing of a child by persons other than his natural or adopted parentsfoster home
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Derived Formsfosterer, nounfostering, noun

Word Origin

Old English fōstrian to feed, from fōstor food

Foster

noun
  1. 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)
  2. 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)
  3. Stephen Collins . 1826–64, US composer of songs such as The Old Folks at Home and Oh Susanna
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fostered

foster

v.

Old English *fostrian "to supply with food, nourish, support," from fostor "food, nourishment, bringing up," from Proto-Germanic *fostrom, from root *foth-/*fod- (see food).

Meaning "to bring up a child with parental care" is from c.1200; that of "to encourage or help grow" is early 13c. of things; 1560s of feelings, ideas, etc. Old English also had the adjective meaning "in the same family but not related," in fostorfæder, etc. Related: Fostered; fostering.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper