Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

foster

1 verb
     
fos‧ter1
1 [transitive] to help a skill, feeling, idea etc develop over a period of time [= encourage, promote]:
The bishop helped foster the sense of a community embracing all classes.
2 [intransitive and transitive] to take someone else's child into your family for a period of time but without becoming their legal parent [↪ adopt]:
The couple wanted to adopt a black child they had been fostering.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary