On this page11 sections
- Quick picker
- When encourage means "give confidence or hope"
- When encourage means "try to get someone to act"
- When encourage means "help something grow or happen"
- Informal phrases
- Grammar patterns: which word takes which structure
- Nouns and adjectives
- Opposites of encourage
- Common mistakes
- Practice
- Quick answers
The most common other words for encourage are support, motivate, inspire and urge. Which one fits depends on what you mean: giving someone confidence (support, reassure, cheer on), pushing someone to do something (urge, persuade, prompt), or helping something grow or happen (foster, promote, boost).
The words also differ in grammar. You encourage someone to do something, but you support someone in doing it and inspire someone to act. This page groups the alternatives by meaning, shows the pattern each one takes, and ends with the opposites and a short practice set.
On this page: quick picker · give confidence · urge someone to act · help something grow · informal phrases · grammar patterns · nouns and adjectives · opposites · mistakes · practice · quick answers
Quick picker
| You mean… | Try | Example |
|---|---|---|
| give someone confidence or hope | support, reassure, hearten, cheer on | Her coach cheered her on from the side of the pool. |
| make someone want to try | motivate, inspire, spur on | The documentary inspired him to start cycling to work. |
| tell someone strongly to act | urge, press, push, exhort (formal) | Doctors urge patients to finish the course of antibiotics. |
| gently suggest | advise, recommend, invite, prompt | Guests are invited to leave feedback at the desk. |
| help an idea or activity grow | foster, promote, nurture, cultivate | The school fosters a love of reading. |
| make something more likely | boost, stimulate, spur, fuel | Lower interest rates stimulate borrowing. |
| approve of something publicly | back, endorse, champion | The mayor backed the plan for more bike lanes. |
When encourage means “give confidence or hope”
This is the sense in “Her words encouraged me” or “We were encouraged by the results”. The person feels braver or more hopeful.
| Word | Shade of meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| support | stand behind someone, practically or emotionally; the most general | My parents supported me when I changed careers. |
| reassure | take away someone’s worry | The nurse reassured him that the scan was routine. |
| hearten | make someone feel more hopeful; slightly formal, common as “heartened” | We were heartened by the number of volunteers. |
| cheer on | shout or show support while someone competes or tries | The crowd cheered the runners on. |
| buoy (up) | keep someone’s spirits high; often passive | She was buoyed by the good reviews. |
| embolden | make someone brave enough to do something bold | The first win emboldened the team to attack. |
| uplift | make someone feel happier or more hopeful; mostly as “uplifting” | an uplifting speech |
| believe in | trust that someone can succeed | Thank you for believing in me. |
Embolden is not always positive. “The lack of punishment emboldened the vandals” means it made them bolder in doing wrong.
When encourage means “try to get someone to act”
Here encourage is close to advise or persuade: “Visitors are encouraged to book in advance.” The alternatives range from a light suggestion to strong pressure.
| Strength | Words | Example |
|---|---|---|
| light | invite, suggest, recommend, prompt | The email prompted customers to update their passwords. |
| moderate | advise, motivate, persuade, coax | She coaxed the shy child into joining the game. |
| strong | urge, press, push, spur on | Friends pushed him to apply for the job. |
| formal or strong | exhort, implore, call on | The minister called on employers to raise wages. |
Two of these say more than encourage does. Persuade means you succeeded: “I encouraged her to come” leaves it open; “I persuaded her to come” means she came. Coax means gentle, patient effort, often with someone unwilling.
In public notices, “You are encouraged to…” is a polite instruction. “Please…” or “We recommend that you…” say the same thing more plainly.
When encourage means “help something grow or happen”
The object is often a thing, not a person: you can encourage growth, investment, teamwork or bad habits.
| Word | Use it for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| foster | qualities and relationships that develop over time | Group projects foster cooperation. |
| promote | activities, causes and products, often by organisations | The campaign promotes healthy eating. |
| nurture | talent, children, plants and ideas that need care | a club that nurtures young players |
| cultivate | skills, habits and relationships built on purpose | He cultivated a reputation for honesty. |
| boost | numbers and levels: sales, confidence, morale | The holiday boosted staff morale. |
| stimulate | economic activity, growth, the brain or appetite | Tax cuts were meant to stimulate spending. |
| spur | a sudden increase or action | The flood spurred new investment in defences. |
| fuel | something that grows fast, often negative | Rumours fueled fears of a shortage. |
| feed | a feeling or habit that keeps growing | Constant praise can feed his arrogance. |
Gardeners use encourage literally too: pruning encourages new growth; a warm spot encourages seeds to sprout.
Informal phrases
- cheer someone on: The whole family came to cheer her on.
- egg someone on: encourage someone to do something foolish or risky. His friends egged him on to jump.
- give someone a push or a nudge: She needed a little nudge to sign up.
- talk someone into something: He talked me into running the marathon.
- be rooting for someone: We’re all rooting for you.
- gee someone up (British): The manager tried to gee the players up at half-time.
- give someone a pep talk: a short speech to raise confidence before a challenge.
Watch egg on: it is not a neutral synonym. It nearly always means encouraging bad or risky behaviour.
If you need the actual words to say to someone, see other ways to say “you got this” and other ways to say “I’m proud of you”.
Grammar patterns: which word takes which structure
Many mistakes with these synonyms come from copying the pattern of encourage. Encourage takes someone to do something; several alternatives do not.
| Verb | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| encourage, urge, motivate, inspire, push, prompt, persuade, advise | someone to do | She urged me to call a lawyer. |
| support | someone in doing / someone’s decision | They supported him in finding a new job. |
| coax, talk, persuade | someone into doing | We talked her into staying. |
| reassure | someone that / someone about | He reassured us that it was safe. |
| recommend, suggest | that someone (should) do / doing | I suggest that you leave early. / I suggest leaving early. |
| foster, promote, boost | a thing (no person + to do) | The scheme promotes recycling. |
So “I suggest you to leave” and “They supported me to find a job” are learner errors; “They supported me in finding a job” or “They helped me find a job” are natural.
Nouns and adjectives
- encouragement: support, reassurance, a boost, inspiration, motivation, backing. Thanks for the encouragement. (uncountable: not “an encouragement” in everyday use, though “words of encouragement” is common)
- encouraging (adjective): promising, hopeful, positive, heartening, reassuring. The early results are encouraging.
- encouraged (feeling): heartened, hopeful, reassured, inspired. I felt encouraged after the interview.
“Encouraging” describes the thing; “encouraged” describes how a person feels. The news was encouraging, so we felt encouraged.
Opposites of encourage
| Sense | Opposites |
|---|---|
| take away confidence | discourage, dishearten, demoralize, deflate, put off |
| try to stop someone acting | discourage someone from, deter, dissuade, talk someone out of |
| stop something growing | hinder, inhibit, curb, stifle, suppress |
Note the pattern: discourage and dissuade take from doing. “The rain discouraged us from going out.”
Common mistakes
- “She encouraged me for studying.” → She encouraged me to study.
- “Thanks for your encouragements.” → Thanks for your encouragement (or “your kind words”).
- “He motivated me in studying.” → He motivated me to study.
- “The teacher egged us on to do our homework.” → egg on suggests mischief; say encouraged or pushed.
- “The policy encourages to save.” → encourage needs an object: The policy encourages people to save / encourages saving.
- Using “promote” for a person’s feelings: “Her words promoted me” is wrong; say encouraged, reassured or inspired me. (Promote a person means give them a higher job.)
Practice
Choose the best word.
- The new park is meant to ______ outdoor play. (reassure / promote / persuade)
- Her teacher ______ her to enter the competition. (urged / fostered / boosted)
- We were ______ by how many people signed the petition. (heartened / egged on / stimulated)
- His friends ______ him on until he climbed the fence. (egged / cultivated / reassured)
- The doctor ______ me that the pain was normal. (inspired / reassured / promoted)
- Free samples are used to ______ sales. (hearten / boost / coax)
- After an hour, we ______ him into coming to the party. (urged / talked / supported)
- Clear rules ______ trust between staff and managers. (foster / embolden / prompt)
Answers: 1 promote. 2 urged. 3 heartened. 4 egged. 5 reassured. 6 boost. 7 talked (urge takes “to come”; only talk/coax/persuade take “into”). 8 foster.
Quick answers
What is a formal word for encourage?
Urge, advise or exhort for asking people to act; foster or promote for helping something develop. “Exhort” is very formal and found mostly in speeches and writing.
What is a word for encourage someone to do something?
Urge, motivate, inspire, prompt, push or persuade. All take “someone to do”: She motivated me to apply.
What is a positive word for encourage?
Inspire, uplift, hearten, support and believe in all carry warm, positive feelings.
What is another word for encouraging?
Promising, hopeful, heartening, reassuring, positive or uplifting. Use “promising” for results and early signs: “a promising start”.
What is another word for encouragement?
Support, reassurance, motivation, inspiration, a boost, backing, or words of encouragement.
What is the difference between encourage and motivate?
Encourage is often about confidence (helping someone feel they can do it); motivate is about drive (giving someone a reason to want to do it). A coach can encourage a nervous player and motivate a lazy one.
For figurative ways to talk about support and drive, see idioms for motivation and idioms for support.