English edit

Etymology edit

From nurture +‎ -ant.

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

nurturant (comparative more nurturant, superlative most nurturant)

  1. (psychology) That provides nourishment; nurturing. [from 20th c.]
    • 1981 August 1, Maida Tilchen, Joan Larkin, Elly Bulkin, “Getting to Know Who We Are: The Lesbian Poetry Tradition”, in Gay Community News, page 9:
      Go to readings, read books like this anthology, read the publications, become nurturant and enriched and educated about what's going on around them, form writing support groups.
    • 1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae:
      In other words, liberalism defines government as tyrant father but demands it behave as nurturant mother.

Related terms edit

Noun edit

nurturant (plural nurturants)

  1. That which nurtures; a nurturing factor or influence.
    • 1975, Austin Herbert Riesen, The developmental neuropsychology of sensory deprivation, page 171:
      By removing one or another aspect from an organism's visual environment, one can determine the essential visual nurturants. The latter are then considered the basic visual-environmental determinants of the development of visual perception.