Discouraging

How to spell discouraging

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce discouraging

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does discouraging mean?

1. adjectiveCausing a loss of confidence, enthusiasm, or hope.
2. verbPresent participle of discourage: actively persuading someone against a course of action or sapping their resolve.

Discouraging in a sentence

• adjective

  The discouraging sales figures forced the team to rethink its strategy.

• verb

  The manager spent the meeting discouraging staff from leaving early.

• adjective

  She found the constant rejection letters deeply discouraging.

• verb

  High parking fees are discouraging shoppers from visiting the town centre.

Where does discouraging come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back to the Latin noun cor, meaning 'heart', which was felt to be the seat of bravery and spirit. From it Old French built corage, 'courage' or 'spirit', and added the reversing prefix des- to make descouragier, literally 'to take the heart out of someone'. English adopted this as 'discourage' in the late 1400s, with the sense of draining away another person's confidence or resolve. The present participle 'discouraging' then came to work as an adjective for anything that has that dispiriting effect. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the hidden 'cour' from courage keeps the silent-feeling 'ou', and writers often drop the 'u' or forget that the single final 'e' of 'courage' is dropped before the '-ing'.

How the word is built

• dis- (reverse, take away)
• courage (from Latin cor: heart)
• -ing (participle/adjective suffix)