Antonyms of verb encourage

1 of 3 senses of encourage

Sense 2
encourage -- (inspire with confidence; give hope or courage to)
       Antonym of discourage (Sense 2)
      => discourage -- (deprive of courage or hope; take away hope from; cause to feel discouraged)

Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb encourage

3 senses of encourage

Sense 1
promote, advance, boost, further, encourage -- (contribute to the progress or growth of; "I am promoting the use of computers in the classroom")
       => support, back up -- (give moral or psychological support, aid, or courage to; "She supported him during the illness"; "Her children always backed her up")

Sense 2
encourage -- (inspire with confidence; give hope or courage to)
       => inspire, animate, invigorate, enliven, exalt -- (heighten or intensify; "These paintings exalt the imagination")

Sense 3
encourage -- (spur on; "His financial success encouraged him to look for a wife")
       => induce, stimulate, cause, have, get, make -- (cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner; "The ads induced me to buy a VCR"; "My children finally got me to buy a computer"; "My wife made me buy a new sofa")

Antonyms of adj encouraging

2 senses of encouraging

Sense 1
encouraging (vs. discouraging) -- (giving courage or confidence or hope; "encouraging advances in medical research")

discouraging (vs. encouraging) -- (depriving of confidence or hope or enthusiasm and hence often deterring action; "where never is heard a discouraging word")
        => daunting, intimidating -- (discouraging through fear)
        => demoralizing, demoralising, disheartening, dispiriting -- (destructive of morale and self-reliance)
        => frustrating -- (discouraging by hindering)
        => unencouraging -- (not encouraging)

Sense 2
encouraging, supporting -- (furnishing support and encouragement; "the anxious child needs supporting and accepting treatment from the teacher")

INDIRECT (VIA supportive) -> unsupportive -- (not furnishing support or assistance)

Similarity of adj encouraging

2 senses of encouraging

Sense 1
encouraging (vs. discouraging) -- (giving courage or confidence or hope; "encouraging advances in medical research")
       => exhortative, exhortatory, hortative, hortatory -- (giving strong encouragement)
       => heartening, inspiriting -- (cheerfully encouraging)
       => promotive -- (tending to further or encourage)
       => rallying -- (rousing or recalling to unity and renewed effort; "a rallying cry")
          Also See-> helpful#1; hopeful#1; reassuring#1

Sense 2
encouraging, supporting -- (furnishing support and encouragement; "the anxious child needs supporting and accepting treatment from the teacher")
       => supportive (vs. unsupportive) -- (furnishing support or assistance; "a supportive family network"; "his family was supportive of his attempts to be a writer")