Foster Meaning
/ˈfɒs.tə/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjProviding parental care to children not related to oneself.
adjReceiving such care.
Sentence Examples
This song was written by Foster.
Health and gaiety foster beauty.
The club's aim is to foster better relations within the community.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The teacher tried to ____ a love of reading in her students.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The program aims to ____ a love for reading among children by providing them with free books.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English foster, from Old English fōstor (“food, sustenance”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōstr, from Proto-Germanic *fōstrą (“nourishment, food”). Cognate with Middle Dutch voester (“nursemaid”), Middle Low German vôster (“food”), Old Norse fóstr (“nurturing, education, alimony, child support”), Danish foster (“fetus”), Swedish foster (“fetus”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The whilſt their owne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittiful."
— c. 1588–1593, [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: As It was Plaide by the Right Honourable the Earle of Darbie, Earle of Pembrooke, and Earle of Sussex Their Seruants (the First Quarto), London: Printed by Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, at the little North doore of Paules at the signe of the Gunne, published 1594, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
"A flower beat with rain and wind,
Which once she foster’d up with care"
— 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto VIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 10:
"And Time, which is the hound of Sish, devoured all things; and Sish sent up the ivy and fostered weeds, and dust fell from the hand of Sish and covered stately things."
— 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC:
"Grimsby doesn't ever wound quite as devastatingly as Borat or Brüno, but it's a vital, lavish, venomously profane two fingers up at Benefits Street pity porn and the social division it fosters."
— 2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ‘Sacha Baron Cohen’s vital, venomous action movie’”, in The Daily Telegraph (London):
"There Florimell, in her first ages flowre,
And passing beautie did eftsoones reveale,
Was fostered by those Graces"
— 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The teacher tried to ____ a love of reading in her students.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The program aims to ____ a love for reading among children by providing them with free books.