- support
- support vb 1 Support, sustain, prop, bolster, buttress, brace are comparable when they mean to hold up either literally or figuratively, though they vary greatly in their specific senses and in the range of their applicability.Support suggests the presence of a foundation or base and is applicable in diverse uses with the general meaning or sug-gestion of carrying from or as if from below, of maintaining or holding up the weight or pressure of, and of forestalling sinking or falling back, or sometimes, merely, of enduring the difficulties or rigors of without yielding and without undue distress{
pillars supporting the balcony
}{he supports the greater muscular tension involved with less evident fatigue— Brownell
}{support the Constitution
}{found the Roman winter ... too poignant for his anatomy to support without pain— Wylie
}Sustain may center attention on the fact of constantly holding up or of maintaining undiminished{sustain the weight of office
}{found it difficult to sustain an interest in their talk— Douglas
}or it may more specifically imply an upholding by aiding or backing up{for nine years, Napoleon has been sustained by the people of France with a unanimity such as the United States never knew— Aguecheek
}or by supplying the physical or mental nutriments needed for strength{this intellectual interest is great enough to sustain the reader through the analytical labyrinths we must search together— Hunter Mead
}Prop may imply a weakness, a tendency to fall, sink, or recede, or a need for strengthening or reinforcing on the part of the thing being treated{propping up the table with a packing case
}{trying to prop up the decaying structures of last-century imperialism—G. L. Kirk
}{the plot, a slim tale of vengeance, is psychologically shallow and propped up by unpardonable coincidences— Anthony Boucher
}Bolster blends the suggestions of sustain and prop; it may suggest a supporting comparable to that afforded an invalid by pillows{bolster up the falling fortunes of the East India Company— Parrington
}{bolster the diminishing lumber trade within the next 75 years— Amer. Guide Series: N.J.
}{assign some extra instruments to bolster the choir's volume of sound—P. H. Lang
}Buttress tends to suggest strengthening, reinforcing, or stabilizing, sometimes massive, at a stress point in the manner of an architectural buttress{combat business slumps and to buttress the economy so that danger of another depression will be reduced to a minimum— Newsweek
}{a code of laws buttressed by divine sanctions which should be unshakable— Farrington
}{the popular success formula is buttressed by evidence from the careers of an impressive minority— R. B. Morris
}Brace may suggest supporting or strengthening so that the thing treated is made firm, unyielding, or rigid against pressure{brace the shelf with an angle iron
}{then he braced himself against a giant oak on his front lawn and experienced a savage kind of exaltation as the elements raged around him— Cerf
}{the shoring up of a tottering political system, which is precisely the problem that we face in trying to brace the western democracies— G. W. Johnson
}Analogous words: *carry, bear, convey: endure, *bear, suffer, stand: evidence, evince, *show: *indicate, attest, argue, betoken: uphold, advocate, back, champion (see SUPPORT 2)2 Support, uphold, advocate, back, champion are comparable when they mean to favor actively and in some concrete manner a person or thing that meets opposition.Support is general and comparatively colorless. One supports a candidate for election whether one merely votes for him or takes a leading part in his campaign; one supports a cause whether one merely announces one's stand in favor of it or contributes money and time to furthering its interests{any politician who supported her husband was regarded with favor by Mrs. Lincoln— R. P. Randall
}{it is not enough to support the capitalist system; to escape abuse as an iconoclast, you must publicly venerate it as well— Bliven b. 1889
}Uphold carries an implication of keeping erect or from falling or breaking down; it is appropriately used in reference to something that already exists but is attacked or challenged{those who uphold the ideal of pure poetry— Day Lewis
}{tried to uphold the morale of the occupied capital— Paxson
}{he is the Philistine who upholds and aids the heavy, cumbrous, blind, mechanical forces of society— Wilde
}Advocate implies vocal support either in speeches or in writings; often it connotes urging or pleading{I believe that our political leaders should live by faith . .. but I doubt that they should advocate faith, if only because such advocacy renders a few people uncomfortable— E. B. White
}{the few local believers in world government brought to town a play that advocated it— Davis
}Back often implies strong support from the rear to be used whenever assistance is needed to prevent the failure of a person or of his ventures or efforts. Sometimes it connotes reserve forces or the use of force; sometimes it implies money reserves or the promise of financial assistance{his father said he would back him in business
}{states, large and small, with . . . their very practical traders pushing for foreign markets, and their navies and armies to back the traders and annex these markets— Shaw
}{there would be more talk, but talk backed by armed force— Cloete
}Often back derives its implications from its use in betting and suggests a willingness to hazard something and especially money on a person's or thing's chance for success{I back you to hold your own against them all— Wharton
}{the wife of a Dublin civil servant prohibited her husband from backing horses, but he continued to gamble secretly— The Irish Digest
}Champion implies public defense of a person or thing believed to be unjustly attacked or too weak to advocate its own cause and may therefore connote distinction or gallantry in the one who champions{who . . . championed every cause I called my heart's cause, loving as I loved, hating my hates, spurned falsehood, championed truth— Browning
}support n maintenance, sustenance, *living, livelihood, subsistence, keep, breadAntonyms: adversary, antagonist
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
