undergird
verb
Acts 27:17 (Revised Standard Version)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
David Catanese, Miami Herald, 14 Mar. 2025
By killing animals for exhibition and subduing their bodies in such tableaux, taxidermy celebrates the subjugation of nature and colonial exploitation, all while effacing the African labor undergirding some dioramas, as with the mountain gorilla scene.
—The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 13 Mar. 2025
That’s a speech that hasn’t aged a minute, but Hawke isn’t undergirding it with full Ibsenian backbone.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2025
What became known as the Carter Doctrine has undergirded the United States’ approach to the Persian Gulf for decades, protecting U.S. interests while allowing regional powers to develop their own security capabilities.
—Tom Donilon, Foreign Affairs, 29 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for undergird
Cite this Entry
“Undergird.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/undergird. Accessed 22 Mar. 2025.
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undergird
verb
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