Reinforcement

How to spell reinforcement

13 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce reinforcement

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reinforcement mean?

1. nounThe act of making something stronger, or extra people or materials added to provide support.
2. nounA reward or consequence used to encourage a particular behaviour to be repeated.

Reinforcement in a sentence

• The engineers added steel reinforcement to the bridge deck.

• The trainer used positive reinforcement to teach the dog to sit.

• The commander requested urgent reinforcement for the front line.

• Consistent praise provides strong reinforcement for good study habits.

Where does reinforcement come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back to the Latin adjective fortis, meaning 'strong', which gave rise to the verb meaning 'to make strong'. Through Old French the form renforcer developed, combining the intensifying prefix re- with enforcer 'to strengthen', so the whole sense was 'to strengthen again' or 'to add strength'. English took the verb 'reinforce' in the early 1600s, originally in military contexts where fresh troops were sent to make an army stronger. The noun 'reinforcement', built by adding the suffix -ment that turns a verb into the name of an action or result, soon followed and broadened from soldiers to anything that adds strength, from steel rods in concrete to rewards in psychology. The same fortis root still hides inside everyday relatives such as 'force', 'fort', 'effort' and 'comfort', and remembering that buried 'force' is the cleanest way to keep the middle of the spelling intact.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• in- (into)
• force (strength, from Latin fortis 'strong')
• -ment (noun-forming suffix)