Thesaurus
encouraging
adjective
Synonyms and Antonyms of ENCOURAGING
1
having qualities which inspire hope <encouraging signs that the economy is improving>
Synonyms auspicious, bright, encouraging, fair, golden, heartening, likely, optimistic, promising, propitious, roseate, rose-colored, rosy, upbeat
Related Words cheering, comforting, reassuring, soothing; assured, confident, decisive, doubtless, positive, sure, unhesitating; beamish, bullish, eupeptic; favorable, good
Near Antonyms cheerless, comfortless; doubtful, dubious, uncertain; bearish, grim, negative, unfavorable; funereal, glum, gray (also grey), miserable, wretched
Antonyms bleak, dark, depressing, desperate, discouraging, disheartening, dismal, downbeat, dreary, gloomy, hopeless, inauspicious, pessimistic, unencouraging, unlikely, unpromising, unpropitious
2
making one feel good inside <the encouraging story of a young girl who overcame great social and physical obstacles to become an outstanding athlete>
Synonyms cheering, comforting, encouraging, fulfilling, gladdening, gratifying, heartening, rewarding, satisfying
Related Words affecting, inspiring, inspiriting, moving, poignant, stirring, touching; edifying, elevating, uplifting; sympathetic, tender; kind, kindly, loving, warm; animating, enlivening, exciting, exhilarating, invigorating, rousing, stimulating, thrilling; pleasing, pleasurable, welcoming
Near Antonyms cheerless, disappointing, disgruntling, displeasing, dissatisfying, heartbreaking, heartrending, saddening; discomforting, disconcerting, dismaying, distressing, disturbing, upsetting; cold, unfeeling, unfriendly, unkind, unloving, unpleasant
3
pointing toward a happy outcome <we're off to an encouraging start on this project>
Related Words fortunate, fortuitous, happy, lucky, providential; advantageous, beneficial, profitable, prosperous, salutary
Near Antonyms unfortunate, unhappy, unlucky; calamitous, catastrophic, disastrous, fatal, ruinous; baleful, dark, dire, direful, doomy, foreboding, gloomy, ill, ill-boding, menacing, minatory, ominous, portentous, sinister, threatening
Antonyms dim, discouraging, disheartening, futureless, hopeless, inauspicious, unfavorable, unpromising, unpropitious
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