incoraggiare

Incoraggiare is an Italian verb meaning to give someone courage, confidence, or motivation to act. It is used to describe the act of stimulating or supporting someone to pursue a goal, improve a situation, or persist in a task. The term can refer to both personal encouragement and broader social or communal encouragement, such as boosting morale in a team or a community.

The verb is transitive and commonly followed by a direct object (the person or group being encouraged) and by an infinitive clause indicating the action encouraged. A typical construction is incoraggiare qualcuno a fare qualcosa (to encourage someone to do something). It can also appear in metaphoric uses, as in encouraging growth, recovery, or reform. The past participle is incoraggiato, and the verb forms follow the regular patterns of Italian -are verbs (io incoraggio, tu incoraggi, lui incoraggia, noi incoraggiamo, voi incoraggiate, loro incoraggiano).

Etymology traces incoraggiare to the noun coraggio (courage) with the prefix in-, forming the sense of imparting or instilling courage. The word is related to other verbs in Italian that express stimulation or support and is contrasted with scoraggiare, which means to discourage.

Usage notes: incoraggiare appears across domains such as education, sports, workplace, and politics, where fostering initiative and resilience is valued. It can imply genuine support, encouragement that builds confidence, or more formal exhortation depending on context. Related terms include esortare (to urge), stimolare (to stimulate), and sollecitare (to solicit or prompt).