Encourage
Encourage verb - To fill with courage or strength of purpose.
Nearby Words: encouragement, encouraging
Stunt
Stunt verb - To hold back the normal growth of.
Usage example: unfortunately, an unusually dry summer seems to have permanently stunted the tree
Common collocations
| character | encourage character | stunt character |
| development | encourage development | stunt development |
| growth | encourage growth | stunt growth |
Both words in one sentence
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Not only did John's stunt waste thousands of dollars, his 'victory' will encourage more people to blackmail the government for organs, which will further destabilize things, and most likely lead to more senseless deaths when the next blackmail attempt doesn't go as well as John's.
Source: Film / John Q. -
Zappa actually felt that Vai was so good that he called him "his little Italian virtuoso" and would credit him as performing "stunt guitar" or "impossible guitar parts." Part of this was because Vai would encourage audience members to bring in musical scores to see if he could sight read them.
Source: Music / Steve Vai
Cite this Source
Stunt and Encourage. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 14, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/encourage/stunt
Encourage & Stunt. N.p., 2016. Web. 14 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/encourage/stunt>.
Stunt or Encourage. 2016. Accessed August 14, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/encourage/stunt.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "encourage" and "stunt" have occurred on timeline