prop up

phrasal verb

propped up; propping up; props up

1

: 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

2

: 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

Welles gets Dylan comparisons all the time owing to his rough-hewn vocal grain, the harmonica propped up around his face like orthodontic headgear, and a young Bob being the average person’s main reference point for wordy folk music with a bent toward social commentary. —Jack Denton, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2025

Feedback is the vertebrae that props up improvement, and without it, there is no growth. —Andrew Geesbreght, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025

And now, more than a month after the Los Angeles fires, those items are propped up on shelves in rental homes and motels and friends’ living rooms, the sudden sacredness of the ordinary. —Corina Knoll, New York Times, 22 Feb. 2025

Currently, Santa Clara County has property tax breaks for properties that promise to preserve their farmland and, late last year, agreed to create an office of economic development for the county, whose main focus would be propping up the agricultural business in the county. —Luis Melecio-Zambrano, The Mercury News, 21 Feb. 2025

Rhymes for prop up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup