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Discourage vs Reject - What's the difference?

discourage | reject |

In transitive terms the difference between discourage and reject

is that discourage is to persuade somebody not to do something while reject is to refuse to accept.

discourage

English

Verb

(discourag)
  • To extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits of; to deprive of confidence; to deject.
  • Don't be discouraged by the amount of work left to do: you'll finish it in good time.
  • * Bible, Col. iii. 21
  • Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged .
  • To persuade somebody not to do something.
  • * Abraham Lincoln
  • Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can.

    Antonyms

    * encourage

    See also

    * deter * dissuade

    Noun

    (-)
  • Lack of courage
  • Synonyms

    * (lack of courage) cowardliness

    reject

    English

    (wikipedia reject)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To refuse to accept.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.}}
  • (basketball) To block a shot, especially if it sends the ball off the court.
  • Synonyms

    * (refuse to accept) decline, refuse, turn down, repudiate, disown, abnegate, abjure, deny

    Antonyms

    * (refuse to accept) accept, take up

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Something that is rejected.
  • An unpopular person.
  • Synonyms

    * (something that is rejected) castaway * (an unpopular person) outcast, castaway, alien