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Glite Dictionary
to cultivate a love for

to cultivate a love for

4.5
To encourage someone to like something over time
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : cultivar un amor por
  • Parents can help cultivate a love for reading by sharing their favorite books with their children.

Do you spend time trying to cultivate a love for self?

Examples

  • The teacher aims to cultivate a love for science in her students through engaging experiments.

  • By taking them to the garden, she hopes to cultivate a love for nature in her kids.

  • Additionally, students might cultivate a love for college and ideas for future career paths.

    Academic text (2014)

Synonyms

to nurture
vsto cultivate a love for
155 3.5

To care for and encourage someone or something to grow

encourages deep affection rather than general growth or development

Antonyms

to discourage
257 3.5

To try to stop something by making people less willing to do it

How Loved

to cultivate a love for
4.5

Surface Forms

cultivate a love for infinitive
cultivated a love for past
cultivated a love for past participle
cultivating a love for present participle
cultivates a love for third person singular

Morphology

cultivate + a + love + for

The meaning is directly compositional: 'cultivate' (to foster/develop) + 'love' (affection) + 'for' (target) yields 'to foster or encourage affection for something.' This verb + noun + preposition pattern is common in English and across other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Cultivate a love for comes from farming. When you cultivate land you plant seeds and care for them until they grow, so to cultivate a love for something means to help a feeling grow slowly into a strong liking.