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dis‧cour‧age
[transitive]
[transitive]1 to persuade someone not to do something, especially by making it seem difficult or bad [≠ encourage]: attempts to discourage illegal immigration
attempts to discourage illegal immigration discourage somebody from doing something My father is a lawyer, and he discouraged me from entering the field.
! Do not say 'discourage someone to do something'. Say discourage someone from doing something.My father is a lawyer, and he discouraged me from entering the field.2 to make someone less confident or less willing to do something [= demoralize; ≠ encourage]: You should not let one failure discourage you.
You should not let one failure discourage you.3 to make something less likely to happen [≠ encourage]: Aspirin may discourage tumour growth in some types of cancer.
Aspirin may discourage tumour growth in some types of cancer.