nurture

American  

[nur-cher] / ˈnɜr tʃər /

verb (used with object)

nurtured, nurturing

1. to feed and protect.

   to nurture one's offspring.

2. to support and encourage, as during the period of training or development; foster.

   to nurture promising musicians.

3. to bring up; train; educate.

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noun

1. rearing, upbringing, training, education, or the like.

2. development.

   the nurture of young artists.

3. something that nourishes; nourishment; food.

nurture British  

/ ˈnɜːtʃə /

noun

1. the act or process of promoting the development, etc, of a child

2. something that nourishes

3. biology the environmental factors that partly determine the structure of an organism See also nature

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verb

1. to feed or support

2. to educate or train

Related Words

See nurse.

Other Word Forms

• nurturable adjective
• nurtureless adjective
• nurturer noun
• unnurtured adjective
• well-nurtured adjective

Etymology

Origin of nurture

First recorded in 1300–50; (noun) Middle English norture, from Middle French, variant of nourriture, from Late Latin nūtrītūra “a nourishing,” equivalent to Latin nūtrīt(us) (past participle of nūtrīre “to feed”) + -ūra noun suffix; nourish, -ure; (verb) derivative of the noun

Example Sentences

But there will be no stopping progress, only a utopian, Fairey-like hope that those who come will be inspired to keep and nurture the magical qualities of the place.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026

The challenge now is for the academy to unearth and nurture several more like him in the years to come following a period of huge change behind the scenes.

From BBC • Mar. 3, 2026

Sakamoto said her coach had told her that she could "nurture a future gold medallist. So maybe you’ll see me as a coach at the Olympics."

From Barron's • Feb. 20, 2026

"The debate between nature and nurture is a long-standing discussion in both biology and society," says co-first author Wenliang Wang, PhD, a staff scientist in Ecker's lab.

From Science Daily • Feb. 11, 2026

How could one determine if any particular feature—height or intelligence, say—was the product of nature or nurture?

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee