Discourage and Refrain

Discourage

Discourage verb - To lessen the courage or confidence of.

Refrain and discourage are semantically related. In some cases you can use "Refrain" instead a verb "Discourage".

Nearby Words: discouragement, discouraging

Refrain

Refrain verb - Resist doing something.

Discourage and refrain are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Discourage" instead a verb "Refrain".

Nearby Words: refrained, refraining

Common collocations

units discourage units refrain units
Cite this Source
Refrain and Discourage. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 27, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/discourage/refrain
Discourage & Refrain. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/discourage/refrain>.
Refrain or Discourage. 2016. Accessed July 27, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/discourage/refrain.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "discourage" and "refrain" have occurred on timeline