Home / Words / fosterNo. 0160

foster

/ˈfɑːstər//ˈfɒstə/·verb
to encourage the growth or development of; to nurture
Fig. 1 — Five people sit around a table, and one stands to lift up a small bulb of light.
01Definition

To foster is to create the conditions in which something can grow — not to make it directly, but to feed, shelter, and encourage it until it can thrive. Governments foster innovation, teachers foster curiosity, good soil fosters growth. The word also names the care of a child who is not one's own, and that sense colors the rest: fostering is patient, nurturing work that helps a latent thing develop. It does the opposite of suppress, which starves what foster would feed.

02In use
  • iSmall grants foster a reciprocal loyalty: founders helped early tend to mentor the next wave.
  • iiA calm, inclusive classroom can foster the confidence that shy students need.
  • iiiOpen data fosters collaboration and helps facilitate research across borders.
03Collocations
  • foster innovation
  • foster a sense of
  • foster cooperation
  • foster growth

Family fostering (noun) · foster (adjective, as in foster care)

04Relations

=nurture, cultivate, encourage, promote, facilitate

≠suppress, stifle, hinder

05Compared
PairThe difference
foster vs facilitatemaking an existing process run more smoothly → facilitate; supplying conditions so a quality grows → foster.
foster vs suppresshold something down so it can't surface → suppress; help it grow → foster.
06TOEFL & IELTS

An IELTS Writing favorite: 'foster cooperation/creativity/independence' is exactly the kind of abstract collocation Task 2 rewards. TOEFL passages use it for environments that 'foster growth' — economic, ecological, or developmental. Note the second meaning (foster care / a foster family). It pairs with abstract nouns, where 'facilitate' pairs with processes — learn the distinction.

07Asked
What does 'foster growth' or 'foster development' mean?
To create the conditions in which something can grow, without making it directly — 'policies that foster growth', 'a classroom that fosters curiosity'. This is the word's figurative heart and its exam-useful sense: you feed, shelter, and encourage a thing until it can thrive. The scene above is the mechanism — a room cheering a small light until it floods the table.
What is the difference between foster and nurture?
Nurture is to tend something closely with care — feeding, protecting, raising, hands-on and often emotional. Foster is to set up the conditions that let it grow, more indirect and often official ('policies that foster innovation'). You nurture a child through daily care; you foster talent by creating opportunities for it. Nurture holds; foster enables.
What does 'foster a sense of' mean?
To gradually build a feeling or attitude in people — 'foster a sense of belonging', 'foster a sense of responsibility'. The verb pairs naturally with abstract nouns of this kind, which is exactly why IELTS essays prize it: 'measures that foster cooperation' reads a band above 'measures that help people work together'.
What is the difference between foster and adopt?
In child welfare, fostering is temporary care — a foster family looks after a child whose own family cannot, usually with the aim of eventual return, and the state retains legal responsibility. Adoption is permanent: it transfers full legal parenthood for life. Fostering shelters for a time; adoption makes a lasting family.
What is the difference between foster and facilitate?
They differ by what they take as an object: you foster a quality that grows, and you facilitate a process that runs. The full side-by-side, with both animated scenes, is on the facilitate vs foster page linked in the 'Compared' list above.
What is the difference between foster and suppress?
They are opposites: to foster is to feed and encourage something so it grows, to suppress is to hold it down and starve it. The full contrast, with both animated scenes, is on the suppress vs foster page in the 'Compared' list above.