Basic Details
Word: Discouraged
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Having lost confidence or hope; as a verb, discouraged also means tried to stop someone from doing something.
Synonyms: disheartened, demoralised, dispirited, deterred
Antonyms: encouraged, heartened
How to Spell Discouraged
Syllables: dis - cour - aged
Tricky part: The middle is our, the same as in courage, not or or ur. No d creeps in before the g: the word is courage with dis in front and d at the end.
Watch out for: discoraged, discurraged, discouradged
Memory tip: Courage sits in the middle: dis + courage + d. When you lose your courage, you are discouraged.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Don't be discouraged by one bad result; there are four more tests this term.
Example 2: The signs on the lawn discouraged people from walking on the grass.
Example 3: She felt discouraged when her painting did not win a prize.
Fun Fact
Courage comes from Old French corage, from Latin cor, heart, so a discouraged person has, in a sense, lost heart.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word discouraged as used in the sentence:
After failing the driving test twice, Kabir felt discouraged but booked a third attempt.
a) disheartened
b) encouraged
c) ashamed
d) excited
Show answer
a) disheartened. Kabir had lost heart after two failures, and disheartened says exactly that.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Heavy rain sarcgodiued many fans from travelling to the stadium on Sunday.
a) disengaged
b) disqualified
c) discouraged
d) discharged
Show answer
c) discouraged. The jumble has a u and an r but no q, h or n, so discouraged is the only fit.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
discourraged
a) r
b) u
c) o
d) g
Show answer
a) r. Courage is written with one r, so one r is all discouraged needs.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A coach who discourages players from eating junk food ____.
a) sells it to them
b) eats it with them
c) buys it for them
d) tries to stop them
Show answer
d) tries to stop them
2. A student might feel discouraged after ____.
a) a string of low marks
b) a good report card
c) a word of praise
d) a prize for drawing
Show answer
a) a string of low marks
