reinforcement

American  

[ree-in-fawrs-muhnt, -fohrs-] / ˌri ɪnˈfɔrs mənt, -ˈfoʊrs- /

noun

1. the act of reinforcing.

2. the state of being reinforced.

3. something that reinforces or strengthens.

4. Often reinforcements. an additional supply of personnel, ships, aircraft, etc., for a military force.

5. a system of steel bars, strands, wires, or mesh for absorbing the tensile and shearing stresses in concrete work.

6. Psychology.

   1. a procedure, as a reward or punishment, that alters a response to a stimulus.

   2. the act of reinforcing a response.

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Other Word Forms

• nonreinforcement noun

Etymology

Origin of reinforcement

First recorded in 1600–10; reinforce + -ment

Example Sentences

They geeked out about continual learning, where AI gets smarter as it absorbs new information, and reinforcement learning, or “RL,” a technique in which the models learn through trial and error.

From The Wall Street Journal

"They were rescued only after additional military reinforcement came."

From BBC

With three key players out because of injury and USC in desperate need of depth, the Trojans are taking the rare step of adding reinforcements at the midseason mark.

From Los Angeles Times

AFP was unable to obtain a reliable casualty count from independent sources as several local sources reported a "massive" deployment of M23 reinforcements, backed by armoured vehicles, in the South Kivu highlands.

From Barron's

The reinforcements are being added even as the courts debate whether it should be allowed to continue.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• aid