nurture

[ nur-cher ]

verb (used with object)

, nur·tured, nur·tur·ing.

1. to feed and protect:

   to nurture one's offspring.

2. to support and encourage, as during the period of training or development; foster:

   to nurture promising musicians.

3. to bring up; train; educate.

noun

1. rearing, upbringing, training, education, or the like.
2. development:

   the nurture of young artists.

3. something that nourishes; nourishment; food.

nurture

/ ˈnɜːtʃə /

noun

1. the act or process of promoting the development, etc, of a child
2. something that nourishes
3. See nature
   biology the environmental factors that partly determine the structure of an organism See also nature

verb

1. to feed or support
2. to educate or train

Derived Forms

• ˈnurturable, adjective
• ˈnurturer, noun

Other Words From

• nur·tur·a·ble adjective
• nur·ture·less adjective
• nur·tur·er noun
• un·nur·tured adjective
• well-nur·tured adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of nurture¹

First recorded in 1300–50; (noun) Middle English norture, from Middle French, variant of nourriture, from Late Latin nūtrītūra “a nourishing,” equivalent to Latin nūtrīt(us) (past participle of nūtrīre “to feed”) + -ūra noun suffix; nourish, -ure; (verb) derivative of the noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of nurture¹

C14: from Old French norriture, from Latin nutrīre to nourish

Synonym Study

See nurse.

Example Sentences

Part of what makes individuals unique are the combinations of genes and environmental influences that shape them — nature and nurture.

From Quanta Magazine

I suggest dropping these folks into an email nurture campaign so that they are being engaged in an automated way until their behavior indicates that they are ready to be contacted by sales.

From Search Engine Land

Leading athletes benefit from a complex, and interrelated, mixture of nature and nurture.

From Washington Post

As for the second question on nature versus nurture, this study can’t answer it.

From Outside Online

Instead of jumping into a seemingly endless academic scrum over “nature versus nurture,” they studied how children actually develop over years and decades.

From Science News

Oddly you nurture it, it is part of you, and inescapably part of your past, present, and future.

From The Daily Beast

Will asking for a barrel-aged Negroni help to nurture some European class?

From The Daily Beast

Nature and nurture, genetics and family background all come into play.

From The Daily Beast

For me, it bred the question of what nature and nurture can really do to someone.

From The Daily Beast

The two sides are not likely to reach agreement on this nature/nurture debate anytime soon.

From The Daily Beast

They troubled themselves with no theories of education, but mingled gentle nurture with “wholesome neglect.”

From Project Gutenberg

Anxious, to excess, to bring them up in orthodox nurture and admonition: and this is how they reward me, Herr Feldzeugmeister!

From Project Gutenberg

In making such a sacrifice they are but repaying the debt of nurture.

From Project Gutenberg

Sane, honorable evangelism never excludes Christian nurture any more than the sunlight obviates the necessity of soil cultivation.

From Project Gutenberg

If he does break silence it will probably be in terms of the religious cult that has given him nurture.

From Project Gutenberg