encourage (v.)

  1. contribute to the progress or growth of; I am promoting the use of computers in the classroom

    [ Syn: promote , advance , boost , further ]

  2. inspire with confidence; give hope or courage to

  3. spur on; His financial success encouraged him to look for a wife'

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.