- 1[transitive] foster something to encourage something to develop synonym encourage, promote The club's aim is to foster better relations within the community.
- 2[transitive, intransitive] foster (somebody) (especially British English) to take another person’s child into your home for a period of time, without becoming his or her legal parents They have fostered over 60 children during the past ten years. We couldn't adopt a child, so we decided to foster. CollocationsChildrenHaving a baby/child want a baby/a child/kids start a family conceive/be expecting/be going to have a baby/child miss your period become/get/be/find out that you are pregnant have a baby/a child/kids/a son/a daughter/twins/a family have a normal/a difficult/an unwanted pregnancy; an easy/a difficult/a home birth be in/go into/induce labour (especially US English) labor have/suffer/cause a miscarriage give birth to a child/baby/daughter/son/twinsParenting bring up/ (especially North American English) raise a child/family care for/ (especially British English) look after a baby/child/kid change (British English) a nappy/(North American English) a diaper/a baby feed/breastfeed/bottle-feed a baby be entitled to/go on maternity/paternity leave go back/return to work after maternity leave need/find/get a babysitter/good quality affordable childcare balance/combine work and childcare/child-rearing/family life educate/teach/home-school a child/kid punish/discipline/spoil a child/kid adopt a baby/child/kid offer a baby for/put a baby up for adoption (especially British English) foster a child/kid be placed with/be raised by foster parents compare adopt See related entries: Raising children Word Origin Old English fōstrian ‘feed, nourish’, from fōster ‘food, nourishment’, of Germanic origin; related to food. The sense ‘bring up another's (originally also one's own) child’ dates from Middle English.Extra examples The school has carefully fostered its progressive image. Such organizations need to foster innovation. The club’s aim is to foster better relations within the community.
BrE BrE//ˈfɒstə(r)//; NAmE NAmE//ˈfɔːstər//, NAmE//ˈfɑːstər//Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they foster
BrE BrE//ˈfɒstə(r)//; NAmE NAmE//ˈfɔːstər//, NAmE//ˈfɑːstər//he / she / it fosters
BrE BrE//ˈfɒstəz//; NAmE NAmE//ˈfɔːstərz//, NAmE//ˈfɑːstərz//past simple fostered
BrE BrE//ˈfɒstəd//; NAmE NAmE//ˈfɔːstərd//, NAmE//ˈfɑːstərd//past participle fostered
BrE BrE//ˈfɒstəd//; NAmE NAmE//ˈfɔːstərd//, NAmE//ˈfɑːstərd//-ing form fostering
BrE BrE//ˈfɒstərɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//ˈfɔːstərɪŋ//, NAmE//ˈfɑːstərɪŋ//Raising children