nurture

[ nur-cher ]
See synonyms for: nurturenurturednurturing on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),nur·tured, nur·tur·ing.
  1. to feed and protect: to nurture one's offspring.

  2. to support and encourage, as during the period of training or development; foster: to nurture promising musicians.

  1. to bring up; train; educate.

noun
  1. rearing, upbringing, training, education, or the like.

  2. development: the nurture of young artists.

  1. something that nourishes; nourishment; food.

Origin of nurture

1
First recorded in 1300–50; (noun) Middle English norture, from Middle French, variant of nourriture, from Late Latin nūtrītūra “a nourishing,” equivalent to Latin nūtrīt(us) (past participle of nūtrīre “to feed”) + -ūra noun suffix; see nourish, -ure; (verb) derivative of the noun

synonym study For nurture

1, 3. See nurse.

Other words from nurture

  • nur·tur·a·ble, adjective
  • nur·ture·less, adjective
  • nur·tur·er, noun
  • un·nur·tured, adjective
  • well-nur·tured, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use nurture in a sentence

  • She soon gave birth to a daughter, her only child, whom she nurtured with the most assiduous care.

  • Now here is a lady, well educated and delicately nurtured, who is destitute of the common necessaries of life.

    The World Before Them | Susanna Moodie
  • This is true, I fear, to a certain extent, of those who have been nurtured in the new traditions.

  • Such men could not fail to adorn the faith they professed, and do honour to the Church in which they had been nurtured.

    The English Church in the Eighteenth Century | Charles J. Abbey and John H. Overton
  • Surely she could never again thwart their plans of evil, hatched and nurtured in the foul darkness of the quags.

British Dictionary definitions for nurture

nurture

/ (ˈnɜːtʃə) /


noun
  1. the act or process of promoting the development, etc, of a child

  2. something that nourishes

  1. biology the environmental factors that partly determine the structure of an organism: See also nature (def. 12)

verb(tr)
  1. to feed or support

  2. to educate or train

Origin of nurture

1
C14: from Old French norriture, from Latin nutrīre to nourish

Derived forms of nurture

  • nurturable, adjective
  • nurturer, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012