discourage

/dəˈskʌrɪdʒ/

/dɪsˈkʌrɪdʒ/

Other forms: discouraged; discouraging; discourages

If your friend is thinking about quitting her job and moving to the Peruvian Andes to raise llamas, you might discourage her by pointing out that she’s allergic to llamas and also afraid of heights.

When you discourage someone, you try to talk them out of doing something, by pointing out reasons why their planned action would be unwise. The verb discourage has roots in the French word descouragier, which comes from des-, meaning “away,” and corage, or “courage.” So when you discourage someone, you can think of it as taking his courage — or enthusiasm — away.

Definitions of discourage

1. verb

   try to prevent; show opposition to
   “We should discourage this practice among our youth”

   synonyms: deter

   type of:

   disapprove, reject

   deem wrong or inappropriate
2. verb

   deprive of courage or hope; take away hope from; cause to feel discouraged
   antonyms:

   encourage

   inspire with confidence; give hope or courage to

   types:

   cast down, deject, demoralise, demoralize, depress, dismay, dispirit, get down

   lower someone's spirits; make downhearted

   dishearten, put off

   take away the enthusiasm of

   intimidate, restrain

   compel or deter by or as if by threats

   pour cold water on, throw cold water on

   be discouraging or negative about

   dash, daunt, frighten away, frighten off, pall, scare, scare away, scare off

   cause to lose courage

   chill

   depress or discourage
3. verb

   admonish or counsel in terms of someone's behavior
   synonyms: admonish, monish, warn

   warn

   notify of danger, potential harm, or risk

   type of:

   advise, counsel, rede

   give advice to