reinforcement

UK/ˌɹiːɪnˈfɔːsmənt/US/ˌɹiɪnˈfoɹsmənt/

nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,828 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: reinforcements

Reinforcement is extra strength or support sent in. Send reinforcements, steel reinforcement, positive reinforcement.

In building, the steel inside concrete is reinforcement, and concrete without it cracks under any pull at all. In psychology, positive reinforcement means rewarding a behaviour so that it happens more often, and it is not the same as punishment removed.

Definitions of reinforcement

1nounreinforcementExtra strength or support sent in.B2+
“The general sent for reinforcements when the enemy attacked from the north.”

reinforcement is a support.

Where it comes from

From reinforce + -ment.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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reinforcement in the wild

The reinforcement is usually, though not necessarily, steel reinforcing bars (known as rebar) and is usually embedded passively in the concrete before the concrete sets.
Reinforced concrete
The frequency or duration of the behavior may increase through reinforcement or decrease through punishment or extinction.
Operant conditioning
Punishment is the inverse to reinforcement, referring to any behavior that decreases the likelihood that a response will occur.
Reinforcement
There is also negative reinforcement, which involves taking away an undesirable stimulus.
Reinforcement
Some audio engineers and others in the professional audio industry disagree over whether these audio systems should be called sound reinforcement (SR) systems or PA systems.
Sound reinforcement system

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

reinforce

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