1.courage的意思是“勇气”,前缀dis-的意思是not。discourage的基本意思是“使气馁,使沮丧”,指人失去信心、失去勇气,产生恐惧,减少鼓足勇气的一切力量,主要用作及物动词,其宾语主要是人。
2.discourage引申可作“劝阻”解,指对别人的某一举动进行劝阻,希望其能够接受,但这种劝阻或阻止未必一定会成功,如果劝阻无效,则可在discourage前加上want to, mean to, try to等。

discourage from (v.+prep.)
阻止某人 prevent sb to do sth
▲discourage sb from v-ing
The rain discouraged us from going out.雨使我们不能外出。
Lack of recognition discouraged him from publishing more novels.因不受欢迎,他不敢再出版小说。
Fear of war discouraged him from going abroad.他因害怕战争而未出国。
I have tried to discourage him from biting nails.我曾劝阻他不要咬指甲。
We tried to discourage him from climbing the mountain without a guide.我们曾设法劝他在无向导的情况下不要去爬山。
◇ 用于be ～ed结构
He was discouraged from going there along.大家劝他不要单独去那儿。
People were discouraged from attending the parade by the bad weather.恶劣的天气阻挠了人们去参加游行。
He was discouraged from marrying the girl by his mother.他妈妈想阻止他和那女孩结婚。

用作及物动词
▲S+～+n./pron.
Don't let one failure discourage you.勿因一次失败而气馁。
The difficult work discouraged Alan and he left school.难学的功课使艾伦失去信心,因此他退学了。
The long winter and the lack of fuel discouraged the settlers.冬日漫漫,又缺乏燃料,使定居者感到泄气。
The political instability of the region has discouraged investment by big companies.这一地区的政治不稳定已使一些大公司打消投资的念头。
◇ 用于be ～ed结构
Never be discouraged with life.切莫对生活失去信心。
We were discouraged at the bad news.我们听到那个消息都很沮丧。
He is easily discouraged by difficulties and obstacles.他遇到困难和障碍时很容易气馁。
If you fail your driving test the first time, don't be discouraged.如果你考驾驶执照第一次没有通过,别因此而泄气。
▲S+～+v-ing
We discourage smoking in this school.在这所学校里我们劝阻吸烟。

discourage, deject, dishearten, dispirit
这组词都有“削弱继续进行的力量或反抗的力量,或减少热情、利益、活动”的意思。其区别是:discourage不仅指失去信心、失去勇气,还指产生恐惧,减少鼓足勇气的一切力量; dishearten更强调灰心丧气,失去达到目的的毅力; dispirit强调失去欢乐和希望,出现起主宰作用的忧郁,也指个人或群众对他人的影响; deject语意比dispirit强,指失去欢乐和希望,因而意气沮丧,只用于个人。

discourage在作“劝阻某人勿做某事”解时,其宾语后面可接“from+v-ing”,但不可接动词不定式。例如:
她劝阻她的丈夫不要吸烟。
误:She discouraged her husband not to smoke.
正:She discouraged her husband from smoking.