foster
verb · noun · adjective
Simple meaning
To nurture or bring up offspring, or to provide similar parental care to an unrelated child.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fahsterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɑstɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To nurture or bring up offspring, or to provide similar parental care to an unrelated child.
transitive
To promote the development of something; to cultivate and grow a thing.
Promote the growth of
“Foster our children's well-being and education.”
transitive
To nurse or cherish something.
noun
uncountable
The care given to another; guardianship.
United States songwriter whose songs embody the sentiment of the South before the American Civil War (1826-1864)
A number of places in the United States
One of 53 counties in North Dakota, United States. County seat: Carrington.
countableinformal
A foster parent.
adjective
Providing parental care to children not related to oneself.
Receiving such care.
Related by such care.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To nurture or bring up offspring, or to provide similar parental care to an unrelated child.
Used this way, foster is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in family or home contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Family/home
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use foster
- “Foster our children's well-being and education.”verb
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Your foster brother is a male who is not a son of your parents but who is raised by your parents.
Supervised care for delinquent or neglected children usually in an institution or substitute home.
A child who is raised by foster parents.
Someone who is raised as a daughter although not related by birth.
The family of a fosterling.
A man who is a foster parent.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.