undergird

verb

un·der·gird ˌən-dər-ˈgərd

undergirded; undergirding; undergirds

Synonyms of undergird next

transitive verb

archaic : to make secure underneath

took measures to undergird the ship—

Acts 27:17 (Revised Standard Version)

: to form the basis or foundation of : strengthen, support

facts and statistics subtly undergird his commentary—

Susan Q. Stranahan

Did you know?

When undergird was a new word in the 16th century, it was ships that were undergirded—that is, made secure below—and the undergirding was done by passing a rope or chain underneath. That literal sense has long since fallen out of use, but in the 19th century undergird picked up the figurative “strengthen” or “support” meaning that we still use. Centuries before anything was undergirded, however, people and things could be girded—that is, encircled or bound with a flexible band, such as a belt. Girding today is more often about preparing oneself to fight or to do something difficult, as in “girding themselves for an ideological battle.” About as old as gird is the word’s close relation, girdle, which originally referred to an article of clothing that circles the body usually at the waist; the girdles of today address the same anatomical territory but with the squeezy aim of making the waist look thinner. Gird also gives us girder, a noun referring to a horizontal piece supporting a structure.

Examples of undergird in a Sentence

the theory of evolution undergirds virtually all of modern biology

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The Carter Doctrine still helps undergird our commitment to stability and security in the Gulf. —

ABC News, 30 Dec. 2024 Mortgage rates are undergirded by interbank lending rates, and the price of financing in general increases as interest rates go up. —

Tobias Burns, The Hill, 18 Dec. 2024 By integrating these forward-looking measures, markets could achieve both resilience and growth without sacrificing the real-world boundaries that undergird our collective future. —

London Business School, Forbes, 15 Jan. 2025 In this case, the worry that the Soviet Union was outstripping the United States was valuable, catalyzing beneficial investments that undergirded a subsequent half century of American technological superiority. —

Jude Blanchette, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for undergird