discouraged
dis·cour·aged/dɪsˈkɝɪd͡ʒd/adjective, verb
discouraged is spelled D-I-S-C-O-U-R-A-G-E-D: 11 letters and 3 syllables (dis·cour·aged). It appears 4.2 times per million words in written English, the 12,578th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, discouraged means “Having lost confidence or hope; dejected; disheartened” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in discouraged?
| Letters | 11: D-I-S-C-O-U-R-A-G-E-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: dis·cour·aged |
| In writing | 4.2 times per million words; the 12,578th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is discouraged?
Discouraged appears 4.2 times per million words in written English, the 12,578th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce discouraged?
- UK /dɪsˈkʌɹɪd͡ʒd/
- US /dɪsˈkɝɪd͡ʒd/
Discouraged has 3 syllables, split dis·cour·aged in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-discouraged.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of discouraged
- more discouraged comparative
- most discouraged superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does discouraged mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Having lost confidence or hope; dejected; disheartened.
deeply discouraged
- 2
unrecommended; unprescribed.
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of discourage
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Discouraged in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | desencorajado, desanimado , desaconselhado |
| Spanish | desalentado, ya no/poco/nada encorajado , desaconsejado, que se desaconseja |
| French | déconseillé |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.