prop up

phrasal verb

propped up; propping up; props up

: to stop (something) from falling or slipping by placing something under or against it

We propped up the beams with long boards.

propped the plant stems up

: to give help, encouragement, or support to (someone)

His faith propped him up in times of crisis.

Examples of prop up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The Sunday spent at Arthur Ashe Stadium — where Kelce could be seen in photos with his phone propped up against his drink, seemingly to watch NFL games — reunited the foursome, three days after the Chiefs kicked off the season with a win against the Baltimore Ravens. —

Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 10 Sep. 2024 In the first half of this year, the Russell 2000 was propped up by a mere two stocks—data servers firm Super Micro (boosted by demand from artificial intelligence customers) and bitcoin and enterprise software play Microstrategy. —

Hank Tucker, Forbes, 7 Sep. 2024 In fact, propping up Russia’s war in Ukraine is only one of several ways in which China has become a major challenge to Europe. —

Liana Fix, Foreign Affairs, 5 Sep. 2024 Their goal is to prop up third-party candidates such as West who offer liberal voters an alternative that could siphon away support from Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee. —

Brian Slodysko and Dan Merica, Los Angeles Times, 2 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for prop up

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prop up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.