reinforcement

noun

re·​in·​force·​ment ˌrē-ən-ˈfȯrs-mənt 

1

: the action of strengthening or encouraging something : the state of being reinforced

2

: something that strengthens or encourages something: such as

a

: an addition of troops, supplies, etc., that augments the strength of an army or other military force

—usually plural

About 8 a.m. Soviet tanks and armored personnel carriers containing reinforcements approached the gorge from the right flank.

—John Barron

b

: something designed to provide additional strength (as in a weak area)

a bridge in need of steel reinforcements

c

: a response to someone's behavior that is intended to make that person more likely to behave that way again

positive/negative reinforcement

3

psychology : the action of causing a subject to learn to give or to increase the frequency of a desired response that in classical conditioning involves the repeated presentation of an unconditioned stimulus (such as the sight of food) paired with a conditioned stimulus (such as the sound of a bell) and that in operant conditioning involves the use of a reward following a correct response or a punishment following an incorrect response

also : the reward, punishment, or unconditioned stimulus used in reinforcement

Synonyms

• brace
• buttress
• mount
• mounting
• prop
• shore
• spur
• stay
• support
• underpinning

Examples of reinforcement in a Sentence

“We're outnumbered! Call for reinforcements!”

We need to prevent enemy reinforcements from reaching the front line.

The bridge is in need of reinforcement.

You should encourage good behavior with positive reinforcement.

Recent Examples on the Web

By engaging employees in the process of creating their own learning plans and using them as a guideline for managing that person, managers establish a cycle of positive reinforcement that has tangible benefits. —Bruce Tulgan, Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025

Turing Award: The award, often called the Nobel Prize of computing, was given to Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton, the developers of a technique called reinforcement learning that is vital to chatbots. —Eli Tan, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025

Open sourcing of other AI projects was also instrumental, including what’s known as the volcano engine reinforcement learning system (VERL) created by TikTok corporate parent ByteDance. —Trevor Laurence Jockims, CNBC, 27 Mar. 2025

Specifically, Writer’s self-evolving models use a reinforcement learning metholodogy known as group relative policy optimization, or GRPO, made popular by DeepSeek. —Rob Toews, Forbes, 23 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1602, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for reinforcement

• divorcement
• endorsement
• enforcement
• indorsement
• forcement

Kids Definition

reinforcement

noun

re·​in·​force·​ment ˌrē-ən-ˈfōr-smənt 

-ˈfȯr-

1

: the action of reinforcing : the state of being reinforced

2

: something that reinforces

Medical Definition

reinforcement

noun

re·​in·​force·​ment ˌrē-ən-ˈfōr-smənt, -ˈfȯr- 

: the action of causing a subject (as a student or an experimental animal) to learn to give or to increase the frequency of a desired response that in classical conditioning involves the repeated presentation of an unconditioned stimulus (as the sight of food) paired with a conditioned stimulus (as the sound of a bell) and that in operant conditioning involves the use of a reward following a correct response or a punishment following an incorrect response

also : the reward, punishment, or unconditioned stimulus used in reinforcement compare recruitment sense 1