From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfosterfos‧ter1 /ˈfɒstə $ ˈfɑːstər/ ●○○ verb 1 [transitive]HELP to help a skill, feeling, idea etc develop over a period of time SYN encourage, promote The bishop helped foster the sense of a community embracing all classes.2 [intransitive, transitive]FAMILY to take someone else’s child into your family for a period of time but without becoming their legal parent → adopt The couple wanted to adopt a black child they had been fostering.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
foster• The Hammonds fostered a little Romanian boy for a few months.• The sequential maturation of the intellectual and social aspects fosters a sense of assurance in the child and acceptance by others.• Fostering a teenager is obviously different from fostering a small child.• Might which controls and appropriates solely for self fosters an appetite for even more power.• Reiteration of a decade-old deception could not fail to foster an enhanced sense of futility.• The workshops can foster better communication between husbands and wives.• During my mother's long illness I was fostered by a middle-aged couple on the other side of town.• These classroom activities are intended to foster children's language skills.• Recent studies show that advertising usually fosters competition and therefore lower prices.• The care programme approach was seen to foster dependency in two ways, on the part of clients and on the part of staff.• Social networks, for example, might be fostered for those at risk of becoming isolated.• In 1954 Britain had fostered the Baghdad Pact to create a band of friendly pro-Western states against the Soviet threat.• Planning policies of concentration have fostered this, sometimes to facilitate the provision of amenities and services to housing.• Guideline 7: Show your affection and foster your child's love and respect.fosterfoster2 ●○○ adjective 1 → foster mother/father/parents2 → foster child/son/daughter3 → foster brother/sister4 → foster homeExamples from the Corpus
foster• two New York subway cops who are also foster brothers• Hospital documents had begun showing recommendations that Jackie be placed in foster care as early as 1973.• Half a million American children are in foster care at any given time.• She finally adopted her foster-child, six-year old Shania.• Nationally, a disproportionate 48 percent of all foster children are minorities.• These foster children are not available for adoption.• As a result, the report said, one in 10 foster children remains in the system for more than seven years.• Other foster children with happy memories did the same, though distance and new relationships combined to make contact sporadic.• She added to her regular income by taking in foster-children.• There was greater contentment there than within the average hostel or foster home and most certainly a greater sense of personal fulfilment.• Steve went to live in a series of foster homes.• He ran away after his foster-mother accused him of stealing.• It is sometimes difficult to find suitable foster-parents for a lively ten-year-old.• The magistrates chairman told foster parents had given him a chance - it was now up to him to take it.• The local authority obtained an emergency protection order and placed the girl with foster parents.Origin foster2 Old English fostor-, from fostor “food, feeding” 