undergird
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.68 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To strengthen, secure, or reinforce by passing a rope, cable, or chain around the underside of an object.
verb
To give fundamental support; provide with a sound or secure basis; provide supportive evidence for.
verb
To lend moral support to.
verb
To secure below or underneath.
Example Sentences
- "For fiction, documentary, verse, and essay, she undergirds entertaining images and stories with profound themes of ecological responsibility and challenge to the suppression of human rights."
- "“I’m not being cynical about Tim Scott individually. I am maybe suggesting that the rhetoric of ‘can’t we all get along?’ – and those quotes you made about, you know, from my speech in 2004 about there’s a ‘United States of America’ – that has to be undergirded with an honest accounting of our past and our present,” Obama told Axelrod, his former senior adviser, adding that he hadn’t listened the South Carolina Republican’s 2024 campaign speeches."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Indo-European *-tér Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér Proto-Indo-European *h₂én Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *-dʰi ? Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰí Proto-Indo-European *-ér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér Proto-Germanic *under Proto-West Germanic *undar Old English under- Middle English under- English under- English gird English undergird From under- + gird.