Standard Lemma guide

hearten

verb · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhɑːtn̩/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈhɑɹtn̩/
  • rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)tən
  • CMU ARPABET: HH AA1 R T AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To give heart to; to encourage, urge on, cheer, give confidence to.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • hearten the crowd
  • News of the recovery helped to hearten the family.
  • The soldiers were heartened by the general’s speech.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cheer up, happify, beatify, enrapture, begladden, blissen, bright, cheer, fetch, cherish, content, delight, elate, elevate, enbliss, exhilarate, fain, gay, gladden, gladden someone's heart, gratify, happy, hearten, jollify, laetificate, light up, make someone's day, perk up, please, raise someone's spirits, rejoice, turn the frown upside down, upcheer, warm someone's heart, warm the cockles of someone's heart

Antonyms: dishearten

2

verb

Meaning 2

give encouragement to

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cheer, recreate, embolden

Antonyms: dishearten

Broader terms: encourage

Narrower terms: take heart, buck up

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱerd- Proto-Indo-European *ḱérd Proto-Germanic *hertô Proto-West Germanic *hertā Old English heorte Middle English herte English heart English -en English hearten From heart + -en. Compare lose heart.

Across languages

Translations

26 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: насърчавам (nasǎrčavam) — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Bulgarian: окуражавам (okuražavam) — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Dutch: bemoedigen — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Esperanto: kuraĝigi — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Finnish: kannustaa — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Finnish: rohkaista — to give heart to, to encourage
  • French: encourager — to give heart to, to encourage
  • German: ermutigen — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Hungarian: bátorít — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Hungarian: buzdít — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Italian: rincuorare — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Italian: incoraggiare — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Macedonian: бодри (bodri) — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Portuguese: animar — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Russian: воодушевля́ть (vooduševljátʹ) — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Russian: воодушеви́ть (vooduševítʹ) — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Russian: вдохновля́ть (vdoxnovljátʹ) — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Russian: вдохнови́ть (vdoxnovítʹ) — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Russian: ободря́ть (obodrjátʹ) — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Russian: ободри́ть (obodrítʹ) — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Russian: подба́дривать (podbádrivatʹ) — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Russian: подбодря́ть (podbodrjátʹ) — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Russian: подбодри́ть (podbodrítʹ) — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Spanish: alentar — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Spanish: animar — to give heart to, to encourage
  • Swedish: uppmuntra — to give heart to, to encourage