REINFORCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does reinforce mean? 

• REINFORCE (verb)
  The verb REINFORCE has 2 senses:

1. make stronger

2. strengthen and support with rewards

  Familiarity information: REINFORCE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REINFORCE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they reinforce    ... he / she / it reinforces   
Past simple: reinforced   
Past participle: reinforced   
-ing form: reinforcing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make stronger

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

reenforce; reinforce

Context example:

he reinforced the concrete

Hypernyms (to "reinforce" is one way to...):

beef up; fortify; strengthen (make strong or stronger)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reinforce"):

buttress (reinforce with a buttress)

line (reinforce with fabric)

bolster; bolster up (support and strengthen)

mine (lay mines)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

reinforcement (a military operation (often involving new supplies of men and materiel) to strengthen a military force or aid in the performance of its mission)

reinforcement (a device designed to provide additional strength)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Strengthen and support with rewards

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

reinforce; reward

Context example:

Let's reinforce good behavior

Hypernyms (to "reinforce" is one way to...):

instruct; learn; teach (impart skills or knowledge to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

reinforcement (an act performed to strengthen approved behavior)

reinforcement; reinforcer ((psychology) a stimulus that strengthens or weakens the behavior that produced it)

 Context examples 

The researchers also confirmed that the amount of exercise WHO recommends for older adults was reinforced by the studies they examined.

(Aerobic Exercise May Mildly Delay, Slightly Improve Alzheimer's Symptoms, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The study reinforced this notion by testing the day/night cycles of mice under different feeding schedules.

(Eating at 'Wrong Time' Affects Body Weight, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Like people who stutter, the mice were normal in all other ways, reinforcing earlier research that suggests that the mice can serve as a valid animal model for important features of this disorder.

(Study in mice identifies type of brain cell involved in stuttering, National Institutes of Health)

But, avoiding deforestation and supporting forest regeneration are complementary and mutually reinforcing activities.

(Natural regeneration of tropical forests helps global climate mitigation and forest restoration, NSF)

Researchers at the University of Cambridge, who led a new study, say the findings reinforce the importance of an active lifestyle when planning pregnancy.

(Exercise in pregnancy improves health of obese mothers by restoring their tissues, University of Cambridge)

This command was reinforced by a steaming kettle of water, and at sight of it the sailors scrambled out of the way.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The carbonate finding further reinforces Ceres' connection with icy worlds in the outer solar system.

(Recent Hydrothermal Activity May Explain Ceres' Brightest Area, NASA)

"These systems run the risk of reinforcing stereotypes of what you should look like if you want to be recognized as a man or a woman," said Scheuerman.

(Facial recognition software has a gender problem, National Science Foundation)

Our numbers had been reinforced during the night by a fresh batch of natives from the caves, and we may have been four or five hundred strong when we made our advance.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With each flyby, the data reinforced the idea that five windstorms were swirling in a pentagonal pattern around a central storm at the south pole and that the system seemed stable.

(NASA's Juno Navigators Enable Jupiter Cyclone Discovery, NASA)