What’s The Opposite Of Inspire?

Disillusion? Dissuade? Stifle? Dampen?

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

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.

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?

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

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”.

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

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.

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?

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.

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.”

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?