embolden

Verb

Verb Forms: emboldened, emboldening, emboldens

To give someone the courage or confidence to do something.
give encouragement to
To render (someone) bolder or more courageous; to encourage, to hearten.
To format (text) in boldface.

Examples

Drawing a ’Q’ and a blank tile might embolden a player to search for ’QI’ or ’QOPH.’

Origin / Etymology

From bold (adjective) + em- -en (variant of en- -en (circumfix forming transitive verbs denoting an increase in, or intensification of, the quality denoted by the enclosed word)). Compare Middle English embolden, enbolden (“to make bold, encourage”) (modern English embold, enbold, imbold (obsolete)), and inboldysshen (“to embolden, encourage”).

Synonyms

cheer, hearten, recreate, bold#Verb, bolden, boldface#Verb

Antonyms

dishearten

Scrabble Score: 13

embolden: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
embolden: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
embolden: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 17

embolden: valid Words With Friends Word