Encourage vs Enforce - What's the difference?
encourage | enforce |
To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.
To spur on, strongly recommend.
To foster, give help or patronage
(obsolete) To strengthen (a castle, town etc.) with extra troops, fortifications etc.
(obsolete) To intensify, make stronger, add force to.
(obsolete, reflexive) To exert oneself, to try hard.
*, Bk.VII:
*:I pray you enforce youreselff at that justis that ye may be beste, for my love.
To give strength or force to; to affirm, to emphasize.
:The victim was able to enforce his evidence against the alleged perpetrator.
(archaic) To compel, oblige (someone or something); to force.
*, I.2.4.iv:
*:Uladislaus the Second, King of Poland, and Peter Dunnius, Earl of Shrinehad been hunting late, and were enforced to lodge in a poor cottage.
*1899 , E. OE. Somerville and Martin Ross, Some Experiences of an Irish R.M.'', Great Uncle McCarthy :
*:In a few minutes I was stealthily groping my way down my own staircase, with a box of matches in my hand, enforced by scientific curiosity, but none the less armed with a stick.
To keep up, impose or bring into effect something, not necessarily by force.
:The police are there to enforce the law.
(obsolete) To make or gain by force; to force.
:to enforce a passage
*Spenser
*:enforcing furious way
(obsolete) To put in motion or action by violence; to drive.
*Shakespeare
*:As swift as stones / Enforced from the old Assyrian slings.
(obsolete) To give force to; to strengthen; to invigorate; to urge with energy.
:to enforce arguments or requests
*Burke
*:enforcing sentiment of the thrust humanity
(obsolete) To urge; to ply hard; to lay much stress upon.
*Shakespeare
*:Enforce him with his envy to the people.
To prove; to evince.
:(Hooker)
As verbs the difference between encourage and enforce
is that encourage is while enforce is (obsolete|transitive) to strengthen (a castle, town etc) with extra troops, fortifications etc.encourage
English
Verb
(encourag)- I encouraged him during his race.
- We encourage the use of bicycles in the town centre.
- ''The royal family has always encouraged the arts in word and deed