fostering
noun
Simple meaning
Encouragement; aiding the development of something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fahsteringSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɑstɚɪŋ
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.
noun
Encouragement; aiding the development of something
“The fostering of creativity is a central goal of our arts program.”
Helping someone grow up to be an accepted member of the community
Raising someone to be an accepted member of the community.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Encouragement; aiding the development of something
Used this way, fostering is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The fostering of creativity is a central goal of our arts program.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “fostering of …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: fostering of …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use fostering
- “The school is fostering a love of reading among its young students.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: encouragement
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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.