foster

UK: /ˈfɒstə/ US: /ˈfɔstɚ, ˈfɑstɚ/ ,(fô′stər, fos′tər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

fos•ter /ˈfɔstɚ, ˈfɑstɚ/   v. [~ + object]

1. to promote the growth or development of:
   to foster new ideas.
2. Sociology to bring up;
   rear:
   to foster an abandoned child.

adj. [before a noun]

3. Sociology providing or receiving parental care despite the absence of relationship by blood or law:
   a foster home; foster children.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

fos•ter  (fô′stər, fos′tər), v.t. 

1. to promote the growth or development of;
   further;
   encourage:
   to foster new ideas.
2. to bring up, raise, or rear, as a foster child.
3. to care for or cherish.
4. [Brit.] to place (a child) in a foster home.
5. [Obs.] to feed or nourish.

• bef. 1000; Middle English; Old English fōstor nourishment, fōstrian to nourish; cognate with Old Norse fōstr; akin to food

fos′ter•er, n. 
fos′ter•ing•ly, adv. 
Synonyms

• 1. favor, forward, advance; foment, instigate.
• 2. nurse, nourish, sustain, support, maintain.
• 3. See cherish. 

Antonyms

• 1. discourage.

Fos•ter  (fô′stər, fos′tər), n. 

1. Biographical Stephen (Collins), 1826–64, U.S. songwriter.
William Z(eb•u•lon)  (zeb′yə lən), 1881–1961, U.S. labor organizer: leader in the Communist party.
2. a male given name.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

foster / ˈfɒstə/ verb (transitive)

1. to promote the growth or development of
2. to bring up (a child, etc); rear
3. to cherish (a plan, hope, etc) in one's mind
4. to place (a child) in the care of foster parents
5. to bring up under fosterage

adjective

1. (in combination) indicating relationship through fostering and not through birth: foster mother, foster child
2. (in combination) of or involved in the rearing of a child by persons other than the child's natural or adopted parents: foster home

Etymology: Old English fōstrian to feed, from fōstor food

ˈfosterer noun

ˈfostering noun

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

Foster / ˈfɒstə/ noun

1. Jodie. born 1962, US film actress and director: her films include Taxi Driver (1976), The Accused (1988), The Silence of the Lambs (1990), Little Man Tate (1991; also directed), Nell (1995), and Panic Room (2002)
2. Norman, Baron. born 1935, British architect. His works include the Willis Faber building (1978) in Ipswich, Stansted Airport, Essex (1991), Chek Lap Kok Airport, Hong Kong (1998), the renovation of the Reichstag, Berlin (1999), and City Hall, London (2002)
3. Stephen Collins. 1826–64, US composer of songs such as The Old Folks at Home and Oh Susanna