encourage meaning

The word ‘encourage’ means to give support, confidence, or hope to someone.

encourage :

to give support or confidence to someone

Verb

▪ She encouraged her friend to apply for the job.

▪ She supported her friend to apply for the job.

▪ The teacher encouraged students to do their best.

▪ The teacher motivated students to do their best.

paraphrasing

▪ support – to give help or confidence

▪ motivate – to inspire someone to act

▪ inspire – to make someone want to do something

▪ stimulate – to encourage development or activity

encourage

Pronunciation

encourage [ɛnˈkʌr.ɪdʒ]

The stress is on the second syllable 'cour' and sounds like 'en-KUR-ij'.

Common phrases and grammar about encourage

encourage - Common meaning

Verb
to give support or confidence to someone

Part of Speech Changes for "encourage"

▪ encouragement (noun) – support or inspiration

▪ encouraging (adjective) – giving support or confidence

Common Expressions with "encourage"

▪ encourage someone to do something – to motivate someone to act

▪ encourage participation – to motivate people to join

▪ encourage growth – to promote development

▪ encourage innovation – to foster new ideas

Important examples of encourage in TOEIC

Vocabulary examples from the TOEIC test

In TOEIC word questions, encourage is often used to mean to motivate or support someone to take action.

▪The manager encouraged the team to improve their performance.
▪The manager motivated the team to do better in their work.

Example of a confusing word: ensure (to make certain)

▪The manager ensured the team to improve their performance.
▪The manager made certain that the team would improve their performance.
"Encourage" means "to motivate" or "support" someone in doing something, and it is typically followed by "someone + to do something," as in "encourage the team to improve." "Ensure," however, means "to make certain" and is used differently. It is not followed by "to + verb" but rather by a clause, such as "ensure that something happens." Thus, using "ensure" in the sentence "The manager ensured the team to improve" is grammatically incorrect and changes the intended meaning. Therefore, "encourage" is the correct choice.

Grammar examples from the TOEIC test

‘encourage’ is often followed by an object and an infinitive verb.

▪She encourages her employees to work harder.
▪She motivates her employees to work harder.

encourage

Idioms and fixed expressions in TOEIC

encourage participation

to promote involvement

▪We need to encourage participation in the new program.
▪We need to promote involvement in the new program.

encourage someone to take action

to motivate someone to do something

▪The campaign encourages customers to sign up early.
▪The campaign motivates customers to register early.

Differences between similar words and encourage

encourage

,

motivate

differences

Encourage is to give support or confidence to someone, while motivate is to provide them with a reason or incentive to do something.

encourage
▪She encouraged her team to meet the deadline.
▪She motivated her team to meet the deadline.
motivate
▪He motivated his team with bonuses.
▪He encouraged his team with bonuses.

encourage

,

inspire

differences

Encourage is to give support or confidence, while inspire is to fill someone with a feeling or vision.

encourage
▪She encouraged him to try again.
▪The speech encouraged the audience to take action.
inspire
▪The speech inspired the audience to take action.
▪The speech encouraged the audience to take action.

Words with the same origin as encourage

The origin of encourage

The word 'encourage' comes from the Old French 'encoragier', meaning 'to give heart to'.

Word structure

The word 'encourage' has the prefix 'en-' meaning 'to put into' and the root 'courage' meaning 'bravery', so it means 'to put bravery into'.

Words with the same origin

courage, discourage, courageous, discouraged

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