Synonyms for nurture
ˈnɜr tʃərnur·ture

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:4.0 / 2 votes

1. nurture

   To cherish is both to hold dear and to treat as dear. Mere unexpressed esteem would not be cherishing. In the marriage vow, "to love, honor, and cherish," the word cherish implies all that each can do by love and tenderness for the welfare and happiness of the other, as by support, protection, care in sickness, comfort in sorrow, sympathy, and help of every kind. To nurse is to tend the helpless or feeble, as infants, or the sick or wounded. To nourish is strictly to sustain and build up by food; to nurture includes careful mental and spiritual training, with something of love and tenderness; to foster is simply to maintain and care for, to bring up; a foster-child will be nourished, but may not be as tenderly nurtured or as lovingly cherished as if one's own. In the figurative sense, the opinion one cherishes he holds, not with mere cold conviction, but with loving devotion.

   See synonyms for ABANDON; CHASTEN.

   Synonyms:
   cheer, cherish, cling to, comfort, encourage, entertain, foster, harbor, hold dear, nourish, nurse, protect, shelter, treasure, value

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. raising, rearing, nurturenoun

   the properties acquired as a consequence of the way you were treated as a child

   Synonyms:
   raising, fostering, lift, rearing, breeding, bringing up, upbringing, fosterage, elevation

2. breeding, bringing up, fostering, fosterage, nurture, raising, rearing, upbringingverb

   helping someone grow up to be an accepted member of the community

   "they debated whether nature or nurture was more important"

   Synonyms:
   rearing, education, breeding, fostering, facts of life, gentility, upbringing, training, bringing up, elevation, procreation, lift, raising, fosterage, reproduction, genteelness

3. foster, nurtureverb

   help develop, help grow

   "nurture his talents"

   Synonyms:
   bring up, rear, sustain, foster, raise, nourish, parent, further

4. rear, raise, bring up, nurture, parentverb

   bring up

   "raise a family"; "bring up children"

   Synonyms:
   kindle, rise, arouse, put forward, leaven, set up, upgrade, boot, provoke, elevate, kick upstairs, recruit, upraise, enkindle, put up, heighten, stir, refer, elicit, advance, conjure, lift, fire, farm, cite, grow, bring up, conjure up, resurrect, levy, advert, promote, nourish, prove, erect, raise, name, call down, get up, produce, call forth, invoke, mention, reboot, evoke, rear, foster, parent, sustain, rise up, enhance

5. nourish, nurture, sustainverb

   provide with nourishment

   "We sustained ourselves on bread and water"; "This kind of food is not nourishing for young children"

   Synonyms:
   have, suffer, keep up, keep, support, hold up, hold, sustain, bring up, confirm, foster, nutrify, rear, aliment, get, corroborate, maintain, nourish, substantiate, affirm, raise, prolong, parent

Matched Categories

1. • Encourage
   • Supply
   • Upbringing

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. nurturenoun

   Synonyms:
   nourishment, food, diet

2. nurturenoun

   Synonyms:
   training, education, instruction, discipline, tuition, schooling, breeding

3. nurtureverb

   Synonyms:
   feed, nourish

4. nurtureverb

   Synonyms:
   train, educate, instruct, school, rear, breed, discipline, bring up

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. nurturenoun

   Synonyms:
   care, training, food, nourishment

2. nurtureverb

   Synonyms:
   feed, nourish, nurse, educate, train, school

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "nurture":

   cultivate, nurturing, cultivar, feed, foster, cultivating, nurtured, promote

How to pronounce nurture?

How to say nurture in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use nurture in a sentence?

1. Benjamin Disraeli:

   Nurture your mind with great thoughts to believe in the heroic makes heroes.

2. Sarah Palin:

   Culture has told these women ... you're not capable of being able to handle and nurture and love and raise a child with special needs.

3. Hirokazu Ouchi:

   Companies will hire someone for two to three years, but they have no intention of investing the time or the money to nurture that employee.

4. Marc Rayman:

   We should study it because we hunger for knowledge and understanding. Grand undertakings like this nurture our spirit.

5. Erica Jong:

   Everyone has a talent. What is rare is the courage to nurture it in solitude and to follow the talent to the dark places where it leads.