What’s The Opposite Of Inspire?
When I was drafting this piece on my sources of inspiration the other day I was stuck on a word for the opposite of inspire.
I wondered aloud on Twitter and got the most fascinating set of responses. I’m not going to quote everyone as I didn’t make it clear this was for a post, but here are the answers I got:
- Bore
- School
- A head cold
- Meetings!
- Disillusion
- Expire!
- Extinguish*
* which of course fits with the dragon theme
I realised as these answers came tumbling in that we can learn as much from our idea of the opposite of something as we do the concept itself.
Each of these opposite words illuminated my understanding of inspiration, and helped me see what it might mean to you too.
So let’s see how much further we can take it. What would your answer be?
What’s the opposite of inspire?
Disillusion? Dissuade? Stifle? Dampen?
I think of inspire as a person, situation, or object that affects a person’s thoughts by increasing creative thoughts and energy. So the opposite would be to reduce creative thought – either to reduce thinking or distract thought.
Distract. A simple distraction, put to sleep, fear, etc. – the opposite of inspire.
Hi Joanna! As I read your list the first thought that came to mind was “discourage.” A word, environment or attitude can hinder creative thought by discouraging it to flourish. I am learning to give voice to the “uninspired” so that I can push it out of the way and get on with it. This was a great post!
Thank you Joanna!
Karen
–Deb, yes, they’d all be on my list. Dampen was what first popped into my mind, like someone putting out my fire. Stifle’s good too – makes me think of snuffing out a candle (maybe I’m stuck on my fire image…)
Brad, that’s very interesting, especially when you think how distracted most of us are. I like the association of inspiration with energy too. I’m determined to get to the bottom of this word this month!
Karen, yes, discourage, and maybe we could take it even further, “dis courage”, remove our courage, take away our fire-breathing hearts
You are all inspiring me with these opposites, thank you!
Joanna
When I’m inspired I’m motivated, so the opposite would be… demotivated.
There’s even a demotivate.com … sad.
So for the ‘d’ words, I’d go with dispirit … dampen … discourage … dishearten … deter … derail …
= creativity killer.
How depressing.
So let’s end with all things inspired … illumination … revelation … discovery … exploration … imagination … visualization … Durian.
Cat, thanks for ending with the up words!
Your choice of words makes me feel like I’m swimming through clear water, up towards sunshine glinting on the surface.
Most illuminating
Joanna
The interesting thing about this debate is that, while it is easy to find and agree on the opposites of adjectives, it is difficult to do the same with verbs. Being action-words, verbs do not yield their opposites easily and automatically. When teaching someone, we might be right in saying that the opposite of ‘encourage’ is ‘discourage’; but then, when we analyse the two words in a real context, we may not after all be entirely right. Consider someone saying: “Well, he didn’t exactly discourage me, but he certainly didn’t encourage me either.” The speaker here, while trying to be precise, sounds non-committal, implying nothing, one way or the other, for or against. What is clear, however, is that the speaker is conveying frustration and confusion. The communication is not so much about the action of the other person as about the speaker’s reaction to an incident.
Likewise, it is reasonable to assume that when someone or something does not inspire us, it does not necessarily mean that it has dampened or dispirited or discouraged us. For example, after you have read ten pages of a novel, you feel you don’t want to read any further. Here, ‘the novel did not inspire you’ is a good enough way to explain your decision to put it away. You don’t need to find an opposite for ‘inspire’. If you feel the need to express yourself better or more precisely, you may say ‘the opening of the novel left me cold’, or ‘it starts dully and goes on so for ten pages’, or even ‘the opening is so uninspiring’. Whereas the first two expressions are plain, the last implies that the reader expected the opening to be inspiring.
Verbs do inspire in our minds a spectrum of ideas, many of which are inferential and interpretative, don’t they?
Hello S. Vaidyanathan and thanks for leaving such an interesting comment. You have certainly got me thinking this morning.
Thinking about my inspire example, you’re right, as a verb it implies action (and I’m also thinking, agent, which is another line of thought altogether – what do we think is the agent doing the inspiring?)
There are times, many times, when ‘nothing happens’ we’re neither inspired nor uninspired, just neutral
But there are also some people, places, activities, words that actively turn us off or leave us cold… even my choice of words there is telling me something about the opposite – that inspire means turning on, or warming me up…
Thanks so much for warming up my thought processes this morning, and giving me a better insight into how words work
Joanna
Joanna,
I am happy to have spread some sunshine and warmth into your morning. Thanks to your inspiration, I was drawn into the wonderful exchange. One good thing leads to another… and so on.
Vaidy
P.S. I hastily formally signed earlier as
S. Vaidyanathan
Vaidy, thanks for coming back! Comments that turn into conversations are why I blog… so wonderful to make these connections
Joanna
Well, this is an inspiring discussion for me, as I am in the midst of proposal writing and was pondering the opposite word to “inspire”.
Because I am talking about how language has the power to inspire or (the opposite word), I had considered words like: deny or demean.
In reading your blog, I am quite drawn to Brad’s consideration – to “distract”.
Barbara, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, and in so doing reminding me of this post and the ensuing discussion. I hope it gave you some food for thought!
“Demean” works well as an opposite for me. Interesting question isn’t it?
Hi Joanna,
Food for thought indeed! I wonder, what did YOU glean from this discussion?
As it goes, I used “demean” in the proposal as it (the impact of language) speaks to the degradation of the human spirit, as opposed to “inspire”.
I hope the 200 words I wrote grabs enough attention to be considered… 200 words was a challenge… an interesting exploration.
Thanks for listening,
Barbara
Barbara, I suppose what I learned is how much we appreciate the multi-layered meaning of some words, even if we can’t put our finger on a definition. We can come up with dozens of words to illuminate the opposite of a word like inspire, and each of them adds something to our understanding of what it means. And yet there isn’t one that quite hits the mark.
Good luck with your proposal.
Opposite of Inspire: Uninspire, stifle, demean, suppress, oppress, discourage, slap-down, cap on, disspirit, belittle, demean, diminish, invalidate, mock, make nothing of, ridicule, criticize, tear down, reduce, stop, disincline, introvert, scare, misuse, capture, disillusion, enslave, subjugate, limit, trap, entrap, ensnare, faultfind, scoff at, nag at, backbite, impugn, depreciate, condemn, denunciate, entangle, confine, perplex, chide, harrass, disapprove, enchain, ignor, hurt, harm, damage, kill, withhold from, unforgiving, suffocate, annihilte, destoy, decimate, nullify, undo, dilute, ruin, impair, reduce, decrease, overwhelm, overpower, wear out, debilitate, weaken, cross out, obliterate, write off, deface, bring down, disperse, fragment and many more.
Gosh, Brasso what a terrible list of words to uninspire. You are reminding me of my commitment to do the opposite of each of these verbs!
[...] has stumped quite a few, though I was especially impressed by this comment on this post. While it seems to be right on target, I am still looking for the word that does the [...]
Hello Joanna,
One more try. My best shot at the best one is: “contempt” in this way.
To “inspire’ is an action meant to bring-out the best in another.
“Contempt”, I’ve read,” in the psychology context is the mindset of the “Bully” and is an action meant to drive-in the best in another. What think?
Brasso thanks for popping back. My only reservation is that it’s not a verb so doesn’t work as an exact opposite (I know, how picky!) But in terms of the meaning and intention: yes, they are exact opposites. Thanks
Oh Dear, a quandry ….but your right. I know there’s a answer but first thought is….if “contempt” is a noun that explains the verb “uninspire” there must be a noun for the word “inspire” too.
Brasso, for some reason that question is making my brain hurt! At least all these conversations are helping us understand what we mean by inspire, don’t you think?
In deed, yes. I’ve been a student of the meaning of word “inspire’ in all it’s contexts for a while. For me having to try and come up with an explanation for the opposite gives the word “inspire” clearer definition. Perhaps knowing what to avoid doing in any way is most important.
It hasn’t come to me yet but I still do think there must be a noun explaining the verb to “inspire.”
My vote is for disinspire, Joanna.
I agree with Vaidy that it is difficult to find the exact opposite of a verb, but don’t think it is impossible, unless the context is not known. For that matter, even an adjective like ‘short’ does not have one opposite. That could be ‘king’ or ‘tall’ depending on the context.
I googled ‘disinspire’ and it figures here:
http://www.greword.com
They say:
Disinspire —– boring, uninteresting
(Ineffable beauty – only used for buildings and places (e.g.: the Taj Mahal), not for humans…)
But let’s use it for humans too, those who deserve it, those who despire us, unlike you who inspire us.
Hello J. …..another try:
“Inspire and uninspire” is a dichotomy of verbs. So if “contempt” was to be accepted as a noun that explains the action-verb, “uninspire”….then why wouldn’t “respect ” be a noun/verb that may explain the action-verb,”inspire?”
The verb dichotomy: “Inspire-Uninspire.”
The noun dichotomy: “Respect-Contempt.”
On 10/18/08 Barbara mentioned “demean as degradation of the human spirit” which puts the discussion into a religion/spiritual level, right? ….and brings to mind another thought; depends on who you read but I’ve always thought when they say, “fear the Lord”, they really meant to say “respect the Lord.” So in respecting others they become “inspired” becuz’ it taps the creative energy of them which is the same creative energy as the “Lord.” No headaches allowed. ….too far of a stretch?
Good God! I had written ‘king’ instead of ‘long’ as one of the opposites of short! Why, I don’t know. Apologies, J and everyone!
Kenny disinspire does work at one level… it makes my breath feel flat, and I know what it means… but somehow, it’s just a bit too flat? (Of course, maybe that is precisely how the word should be.) By the way, I was most intrigued by king being the opposite of short, and could easily imagine how it could be so, at least in a world of poetry!
Brasso that’s an interesting dimension of respect – one I hadn’t considered before. But disrespect wouldn’t really capture the opposite of inspire would it? I think I am going to have to go back and review this whole conversation sometime and see which one I really want to go with!
Just received a T.S. Elliot web site and want to pass it on to my son. For SUBJECT: I entered Inspiring or …….? So I punched in opposite of Inspiring, only to end up landing on this site – which is driving me crazy the more I read it.. Until NOW that I reached the end of what I was afraid was going to be one of those endless sites with 10 pages that keep growing as you go…Whew! All I want to know is: ” What is the opposite of …so that I can get my T.S. thing off and running. Maybe for the subject I will just state “Inspiring or….., and allow my son to come up with his own word for the opposite of…I’m sure that’s the way T.S. would want me to do it.
gerald it’s a tricky one isn’t it? I’ve been following this for ages now and still don’t know what the answer is!
http://www.tristan.icom43.net/quartets/
Joanna: Thanks for responding. And I mean it. In fact your response “Inspired” me to reexamine the writings of T.S. Elliot (1888-1965) in order to be able to find out his how this poet may have viewed the meaning of the word “Inspire.” My hope is that by examining very closely the writings of this poet we, as well as everyone else on this site, can get through this stumbling block which seems to be driving all of us “Crazy.” However, before I convey to you exactly what I discovered in examining the writings of Mr. Elliot, please allow me to say something about how I understand the very nature of language in and of itself. Let me begin by saying that a word is not to be defined and then taken for granted as something which has been defined, and that is that. Personally, I would define this interpretation of the use of words as being “stagnating.” To me, I believe language will always be “Inadequate,” mainly because language is something which is always evolving. This is not to say that language is something that is infinite, such as a giant jigsaw puzzle of infinite proportions, which should not even be attempted to be examined – end of story. As far as defining the word inspire is concerned I would have to agree with the notion that it all depends upon the context in which this word is used. Now, if I may continue, allow me to provide everyone with a few T.S. Elliot quotes:
” We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
“A play should give you something to think about. When I see a play and understand it the first time, then I know it can’t be much good.”
All significant truths are private truths. As they become public they cease to become truths; they become facts, or at best, part of the public character; or at worst, catchwords.”
“It’s strange that words are inadequate. Yet, like the asthmatic struggling for breath, so the lover must struggle for words.
I can just hear you thinking…yes, but…
Interesting… you reminded me of this exchange from Alice
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone. “It means just what I choose it to mean – neither more or less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpty_Dumpty
Have been ‘fighting’ my computer all day. And I mean all day, trying to download Windows Updates which took hours – only to no avail, I’m afraid: I said, “Contemptuously!” What with language ‘in general’ having been around for so long it would seem as if it would ‘work’ by now; but seeing how computer language has only been around…one must weigh the pros and cons. But of course it can be more than assumed that NO ONE is going to give up their addiction to this form of communication, which admittedly is in its early state of development. But hey, all us addicts out here are going to unquestionably get our ‘fix’ for the day. Right? Good. At least we can agree on something. Although I love this site because it focuses on something as benign as the word Inspire: Wait! Hold on! Be sure you check in on the address above. You will find that the Humpty Dumpty/Alice conversation is not so ‘benign’ after all – not in the least bit! In fact you will discover that this H.D thing does in fact have POLITICAL implications which are truly MONUMENTAL! Now, discussing the meanings of words is one thing, but getting into the world of politics is quit another. Actually I have some thoughts about my 1st and 2nd posting on this site and would love to go into this in more detail, but sign me out – at least for now – as being as furious as…at my computer! I think I just over dosed on the ever-present dangers of trying to communicate with a computer which by its nature is, but hopefully will not always ‘be master’ over us poor pitiful humans – which is something I keep forgetting, sometimes. HA. Till later. Thanks for responding to my posting. Tell me what you think.
[...] to be learned from opposites. (They can also be good conversation starters: the correspondence on what’s the opposite of inspire is still running two years [...]
I am young so I guess my comment won’t matter much to some,
But To Me Inspire means to Motivate and the opposite of that is
Depress, Disenchant (Disenchanting) and Discourage.
I really do hope you find your “perfect” word for the opposite of Inspire
Ah how I fall in Love with that word
1. To affect, guide, or arouse by divine influence.
2. To fill with enlivening or exalting emotion: hymns that inspire the congregation; an artist who was inspired by Impressionism.
3.
a. To stimulate to action; motivate: a sales force that was inspired by the prospect of a bonus.
b. To affect or touch: The falling leaves inspired her with sadness.
4. To draw forth; elicit or arouse: a teacher who inspired admiration and respect.
5. To be the cause or source of; bring about: an invention that inspired many imitations.
6. To draw in (air) by inhaling.
7. Archaic
a. To breathe on.
b. To breathe life into.
Spiritus (The Divine Breath)
So many uses and so little time
= )
So many uses and so little time. Hum … . First of all allow me to welcome you to this on-going discussion, the last comment made by myself in – lets see – way back on April 11, a mere what, almost two whole months ago, so much has happened since then, I can’t belive that I know no more now than what knew before; but then, I ask: who is keeping score? As you have noticed this site was created by a perfect angel of frustration, exasperation, even – who I must confess I adore; even though what you are offering is something different, I welcome your ‘New Eyes’ comments, your seeking of perfection where I am afraid I have in my own initial exuberance have – as you may have noticed – made myself into a ‘bore’; trying to beat around a bush which is so out of date and yet is so fresh. You say that you are young, but how young is young; for answers to this riddle are still flying amoungst us old folk, as clearly as you can see. But your inspiration is the opposite of the opposite of what you want this word to mean, what you want this word to be. Please read my previous comments and say what you really think; tell Oh tell I ask of you. Oh tell, Oh please tell me; please tell me what you think; am I in my right mind, or the opposite of … or the opposite of … , or am I out of my tree? HA
Jaydon thanks for joining the conversation, all perspectives welcome and I’m not sure age has anything to do with it! Discourage and disenchant go a long way to capturing it… certainly discourage captures well what some negative voices and influences do in this world. I hope by sharing our own experiences we can continue to breathe life into words
Hey and thanks for your welcomes
I’m 12 Years old now, and I realize I still have a long way to go, a lot more to learn and allow myself time to progress into my being.
I was not sure what Gerald Foster was saying, my guess is that, My post was not helpful? It seems that This word has plagued you all for sometime, hm I think I’ll read or re-read for that matter ALL the posts from way back when and then reply with a ‘fresh’ understanding and maybe I can better grasp the idea that you’re trying to show me.
Thanks again and to Joanna, I appreciate your comment!
Breathing life into words, yeah that sounds just lovely!
See you around
Ah, YES, this is EXACTLY the response I was after! Yes, do re-read previous comments made on this site. Critique Time, if we will. I suggest that – in order to really get this site ‘off the ground’ – we stop foolin’ around, and start listening and commenting about each other’s comments which I have found, now that you, Jaydon, have accepted this challenge, can begin by first focusing on the significance of the potential of A word (whether it be the word Inspire, or the Opposite of … ) in terms of the word’s context. This concept is what I was trying to make in my presentation of T.S.Elliots quotations (above) as being important in the understanding of how language can, or cannot be used successfully in terms of their intention, as demonstarted by another quote made by Mr. Elliot: “One can spend one’s whole life trying to understand something ‘in the wrong way’, and in the end realize that what they have been doing all along has been wasting their time. HA. Now, WE wouldn’t want to do this, would we? So, my suggestion is: Let ALL of us start a conversation amongst us who are on this site; thus providing each of us with a little feedback which – although it may be not exactly be something which is particularly ‘nice’ to say about someone else’s comment; then, I say: so be it! To tell you the truth, this little quote from Mr. T.S. says it all. I mean, let’s start talking for a change; and get things going! I mean we don’t want to spend our whole lfe times ‘beating aroud the bush’ do we? Otherwise we WILL realize that in the end, we will have only wasted our time. Right? Critique anyone? Let us match ‘reasonableness’ with the ‘rules’ – so to speak, though. As Joanna expressed, we welcome your comments on this site, Jaydon. Yes, you have ‘Breathed new life’ into what we are all commening about. But, if no one else gives me any ‘reasonable’ feedback on MY comments, then I guess where we started our ‘Exploration’ will end up where we started and NOT know it for the first time, if anyone gets my ‘drift’. This is the only reason I’m on this site in the first place. Jaydon, please read everthing I have presented previously very closely, and tell me what you think. To begin with, I would like to know who your favorite writers are; please pinpoint certain quotes or passages which relate to the subject at hand. Thank you very much, Jaydon! for your truly inspiring comments. Again, I would most appreciate your input into what I have been trying to say all along. Tell me what you think, even if you think that I am wrong, but do tell me what you think in an ‘informed’ way, and please do not just spout off what you want to say without first understanding the context in which you decide to use the words you decide to use. Thank you, again! Let’s get REAL, for a change.
Jaydon we all have a long way to go and a lot more to learn
Enjoy the learning as you go.
Gerald I appreciate you’re trying to get conversation going, but in my experience comments on comments don’t really work on blogs. Most blog readers are looking for interesting content to read and then gently respond to. That’s pretty much all they have time for. I guess conversations between commenters take place on forums and message boards, though they’re not places I spend time on… preferring the format of the blog.
As far as I’m concerned, people are welcome to comment here just to say ‘that’s interesting’ or ‘I got something from that’. Not least because it works as useful feedback for me, the writer, author, publisher, moderator… and gives me the incentive to keep going.
Come again?
O .K, slowing down a little at your request. ‘Intuition’ concerning T.S.’s quotation “We shall not cease from exploration and the end of our exploring shall be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time” tells me that this thought is somehow related to our discussion. Please give me your ‘take’ on all of this – briefly- I suppose. Though may I suggest that what Mr T.S. is saying does have ‘something’ very important which has to do with the nature of defining the meaning of a word (any word) not to mention the meaning of the opposite definition of ‘a’ word. If you are able to solve this little mystery, what I am suggesting is that in our atempt to explore our own starting point that what we may end up doing in the process is’ learning’ something NEW! For, as Mr. T.S. states, if we are not carefull in our exploration, we may end up wasting our time. Intersting! I think. Perhaps T. S.’s comment is relevant, perhaps even essential to our own exploration of what the relevance of this site is when the objective is to ‘learn’ and not go around in circles, wondering what we are doing ‘here’ in the first place, for that matter. So I ask: What do you think? Is the scope of this of this site adequate enough to answer a question which is perhaps too broad, and perhaps too far-reaching and perhaps too relevent for this site to handle, in the first place? If so, I wish someone would have let me know earlier. Thanks.
Hello Again, J.
It seems the discussion to find an “Inspire” opposite has been mainly from the viewpoints of “Self-to-Others” or “Others-to-Self.”
Maybe it’s the third flow, the “Self-to-Self” “Inspire” opposite that’s the target.
If so that puts it into more than just a word-meaning study, I’m thinking. That opens up the histories of the study of Psychology, Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality in general isn’t it.
How to get relief from those elusive barriers, handicaps, distracting attention thieves that are self-limiting. Perhaps every Discipline has it’s format….trying to recapture Creativity from some sort of Destuctivity.
Simple word dichotomies may just be a trap in some way too. For instance, ask the question, “What is the opposite of Love?” Standard answering is “Hate.” …..but the larger creative answer is “Fear.”
“Fear” in all it’s forms is in opposition to “Inspire”, right? Do some “Yoga” some would say. Mozart didn’t have a focus problem; he just did it right out his head or somewhere. Wonder what he’d say. ‘Course, he couldn’t balance a checkbook either. Time out….got to get my cucumbers planted.
Great! This is really starting to get FUN! Brasso, I have to admitt I had trouble reading your last comment because, because, well, I’m afraid to admit: I was laughing (splitting a gut) so darned hard! Cucumbers! WOW! And Mozart not being able to balance his check book. HA Thanks for your input. What were we talking about anyway? Oh, yea, the word Inspire. And the opposite of … Hum … Of course, we all know who to blame for this plight, though: it is that devil with red hair, and Joanna is her name! HA But Joanna, don’t think you are the only one around here who is fire-oriented, which can be explained – of course – by that quite beautiful red hair of yours. For I too have, or should I say HAD red hair too, that is when I HAD hair at all, once upon a time, so long ago. But alas: NEVERMORE! But allow me to point out that having just finished starting from the beginning, I have noticed quite a lot of deep thought being presented on this site, even though I admit I was sort of in a fit and that it was quite a fright to read my own comments; oh, what I might have said differently I think now. But somehow, I believe, with much relief that looking back I started this attack on the opposite of … by presenting my first comment by saying that I would just use … in order for my son to essentially fill in the meaning of the opposite of … with a word of his own making. I also indicated that ‘this is what T.S. would have wanted me to do’. Hum … sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Oh, for certain I sure do come off as being some kind of Elliot NUT. But, it should be pointed out that although I began with wanting to send my son some T.S. quotes, I was not intending to send him a bunch of Jokes. For my inspiration came from finding out the opposite of … because I had just come off another site called Inspire.com, which was not much fun; for this site is not for the faint hearted; for it deals with the very, very substanitally serious subject of Inspiring those who have or have had the dreaded disease which is called Cancer. Hum … now what we are talking about is NOT all fun and games. We are talking about the opposite of the word Inspiration which is, I’m afraid … the word which can only – within this context – be the word … PAIN! The sound of footfalls in our memory, thus echo in our mind, down the path we did not take, into the rose garden … hum … T.S. Eliot
@Brad K.: Surpress?
Disillusion
Hmm… have to say, disillusion captures a lot of it.