reinforcement
[ree-in-fawrs-muh nt, -fohrs-]
- the act of reinforcing.
- the state of being reinforced.
- something that reinforces or strengthens.
- Often reinforcements. an additional supply of personnel, ships, aircraft, etc., for a military force.
- a system of steel bars, strands, wires, or mesh for absorbing the tensile and shearing stresses in concrete work.
- Psychology.
- a procedure, as a reward or punishment, that alters a response to a stimulus.
- the act of reinforcing a response.
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Origin of reinforcement
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for reinforcements
Contemporary Examples
Finally, a squad of reinforcements arrived and they were able to retreat.
She told him she and her comrades are in dire need of reinforcements and if they had equal numbers they could beat them.
Nothing but watch, that is, and prevent Kurdish reinforcements from crossing the frontier to help defend Kobani.
With reinforcements arriving from its Syrian factions, the group began their assault on the Kurdish Peshmerga.
Iraq’s Religious Minorities are Being Slaughtered and ISIS Just Captured the Last Town Giving Them ShelterAndrew Slater
August 4, 2014
Despite their appeals no reinforcements were sent to Tikrit.
Historical Examples
Moreover, the rivers are always ours and reinforcements will soon pour in to us.
The Rock of ChickamaugaJoseph A. Altsheler
Howe's reinforcements had reported for duty by the thirty-first of December.
Reinforcements of men and women are needed, but, far above all, reinforcements of prayer.
Things as They AreAmy Wilson-Carmichael
Meanwhile Agesilaus was rapidly hastening with his reinforcements from Asia.
HellenicaXenophon
Whilst these matters were still pending, the second reinforcements from Dionysius arrived.
HellenicaXenophon
Word Origin and History for reinforcements
reinforcement
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
reinforcement
(rē′ĭn-fôrs′mənt)- The act or process of reinforcing.
- Something that reinforces.
- The occurrence or experimental introduction of an unconditioned stimulus along with a conditioned stimulus.
- The strengthening of a conditioned response by such means.
- An event, a circumstance, or a condition that increases the likelihood that a given response will recur in a situation like that in which the reinforcing condition originally occurred.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.