Understanding ‘Discourage’: Boost Your IELTS Vocabulary
Learn the meaning, usage, and common errors of the word ‘discourage’ to improve your IELTS score. This video covers the word’s type, history, synonyms, antonyms, and provides practical examples to help you use it correctly in your exam.
Feeling held back in your goals? You might be experiencing discouragement. Today, we’re exploring the word discourage, an essential vocabulary item for IELTS learners aiming for a band score of six point five or higher.
Word type: Discourage is primarily used as a verb.
Meaning: To discourage means to make someone lose confidence or enthusiasm.
It can also mean to prevent or try to prevent something by showing disapproval or creating difficulties.
Word history: The word discourage comes from the Old French word descouragier, which literally means to remove courage.
It entered the English language in the early fifteenth century.
Antonyms: Some opposites of discourage include encourage, inspire, motivate, and hearten.
Synonyms: Words with similar meanings to discourage are deter, dishearten, dampen, and dispirit.
Examples use in sentences:
The high cost of tuition might discourage some students from applying to university. Parents should avoid discouraging their children’s creative efforts, even if the results aren’t perfect.
The new regulations are intended to discourage excessive speeding on highways. Common errors in use: One common mistake is confusing discourage with disparage.
While discourage means to dishearten or deter, disparage means to belittle or speak negatively about something.
Another error is using discourage with the wrong preposition. We say discourage from doing something, not discourage to do something.
Understanding and correctly using the word discourage can significantly enhance your vocabulary for the IELTS exam.
Remember, it’s about making someone lose confidence or enthusiasm, or trying to prevent an action. Practice using this word in your speaking and writing to become more comfortable with it.
Keep building your vocabulary, and don’t let challenges discourage you from reaching your language learning goals.
