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

Explanation

Reinforcement is a way to learn and remember things, like a student who repeats the facts he has studied for a test over and over, or the ways we praise children when they share their toys or say "please" and "thank you" — reinforcement of the good manners we want them to use. You’ll often hear the word reinforcement used in relation to a building or other structure that gets additional mechanical support, but the word can be used in a broader sense as well. In addition to strengthening walls, reinforcement can refer to the strengthening or propping up of an argument or a particular point of view. For example, if you show up in class every day and ask questions, that adds reinforcement to the notion that you’re a diligent student.

Example Sentences

Reinforcement learning models, which underlie these AI decision-making systems, still often fail when faced with even small variations in the tasks they are trained to perform.

From Science Daily • Nov. 22, 2024

Reinforcement learning is a machine-learning, trial-and-error approach in which the computer takes actions and gets feedback about which work better in order to learn how to accomplish an objective.

From Salon • Jun. 4, 2023

Reinforcement learning: A technique that teaches an A.I. model to find the best result by trial and error, receiving rewards or punishments from an algorithm based on its results.

From New York Times • Mar. 27, 2023

Reinforcement of soldiers and police cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to nab the attackers.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 16, 2022

What noble Efforts must they make, when they saw a fresh Reinforcement of Men flying as swift as possible to their Assistance?

From A Letter to Lord Robert Bertie Relating to His Conduct in the Mediterranean, and His Defence of Admiral Byng by Anonymous

Related Words

• aid