hearten

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to make someone feel more encouraged, hopeful, or confident

   The steady rise in donations heartened the exhausted volunteers.

Formed from heart + the verb-forming suffix -en, literally "to give heart to." Heart has long represented courage and spirit as well as the bodily organ, which gave hearten its sense of restoring confidence or hope.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images