noun
- the act of reinforcing.
- the state of being reinforced.
- something that reinforces or strengthens.
- Often reinforcements. an additional supply of personnel, ships, aircraft, etc., for a military force.
- a system of steel bars, strands, wires, or mesh for absorbing the tensile and shearing stresses in concrete work.
- Psychology.
- a procedure, as a reward or punishment, that alters a response to a stimulus.
- the act of reinforcing a response.
n.c.1600, “act of reinforcing,” from reinforce + -ment. Meaning “an augmentation, that which reinforces” is from 1650s. Related: Reinforcements. n.
- The act or process of reinforcing.
- Something that reinforces.
- The occurrence or experimental introduction of an unconditioned stimulus along with a conditioned stimulus.
- The strengthening of a conditioned response by such means.
- An event, a circumstance, or a condition that increases the likelihood that a given response will recur in a situation like that in which the reinforcing condition originally occurred.