DISCOURAGEMENT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does discouragement mean? 

• DISCOURAGEMENT (noun)
  The noun DISCOURAGEMENT has 3 senses:

1. the feeling of despair in the face of obstacles

2. the expression of opposition and disapproval

3. the act of discouraging

  Familiarity information: DISCOURAGEMENT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISCOURAGEMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The feeling of despair in the face of obstacles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

discouragement; disheartenment; dismay

Hypernyms ("discouragement" is a kind of...):

despair (the feeling that everything is wrong and nothing will turn out well)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "discouragement"):

intimidation (the feeling of discouragement in the face of someone's superior fame or wealth or status etc.)

Derivation:

discourage (deprive of courage or hope; take away hope from; cause to feel discouraged)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The expression of opposition and disapproval

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("discouragement" is a kind of...):

disapproval (the expression of disapproval)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "discouragement"):

disheartenment (a communication that leaves you disheartened or daunted)

dissuasion (a communication that dissuades you)

determent; deterrence; intimidation (a communication that makes you afraid to try something)

Antonym:

encouragement (the expression of approval and support)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of discouraging

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the discouragement of petty theft

Hypernyms ("discouragement" is a kind of...):

deterrence (the act or process of discouraging actions or preventing occurrences by instilling fear or doubt or anxiety)

Derivation:

discourage (try to prevent; show opposition to)

 Context examples 

Or at my saying that I really believe I felt, even then, that you could be faithfully affectionate against all discouragement, and never cease to be so, until you ceased to live?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He struggled in the dark, without advice, without encouragement, and in the teeth of discouragement.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Behind them was the dark forest they had passed safely through, although they had suffered many discouragements; but before them was a lovely, sunny country that seemed to beckon them on to the Emerald City.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

If 'genius is eternal patience', as Michelangelo affirms, Amy had some claim to the divine attribute, for she persevered in spite of all obstacles, failures, and discouragements, firmly believing that in time she should do something worthy to be called 'high art'.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He is a most extraordinary young man, and whatever be the event, you must feel that you have created an attachment of no common character; though, young as you are, and little acquainted with the transient, varying, unsteady nature of love, as it generally exists, you cannot be struck as I am with all that is wonderful in a perseverance of this sort against discouragement.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

While he spoke, Emma's mind was most busy, and, with all the wonderful velocity of thought, had been able—and yet without losing a word—to catch and comprehend the exact truth of the whole; to see that Harriet's hopes had been entirely groundless, a mistake, a delusion, as complete a delusion as any of her own—that Harriet was nothing; that she was every thing herself; that what she had been saying relative to Harriet had been all taken as the language of her own feelings; and that her agitation, her doubts, her reluctance, her discouragement, had been all received as discouragement from herself.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

She could not, though only eighteen, suppose Mr. Crawford's attachment would hold out for ever; she could not but imagine that steady, unceasing discouragement from herself would put an end to it in time.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)