dis ‧ cour ‧ age /dɪsˈkʌrɪdʒ $ -ˈkɜːr-/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Word Family: adjective : ↑ encouraged ≠ ↑ discouraged , ↑ encouraging ≠ ↑ discouraging ; verb : ↑ encourage ≠ ↑ discourage ; noun : ↑ encouragement ≠ ↑ discouragement ; adverb : ↑ encouragingly ≠ ↑ discouragingly ]
1 . to persuade someone not to do something, especially by making it seem difficult or bad OPP encourage :
attempts to discourage illegal immigration
discourage somebody from doing something
My father is a lawyer, and he discouraged me from entering the field.
► Do not say ‘discourage someone to do something’. Say discourage someone from doing something .
2 . to make someone less confident or less willing to do something SYN demoralize OPP encourage :
You should not let one failure discourage you.
3 . to make something less likely to happen OPP encourage :
Aspirin may discourage tumour growth in some types of cancer.