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
Liz Napolitano, CNBC, 11 Apr. 2026
For gamblers, especially younger ones who are just starting to earn and build the savings that will undergird their retirements, that can mean life-altering losses of wealth and financial stability.
—Max Klaver, Miami Herald, 10 Apr. 2026
Even cheaper or open-source AI models from smaller companies could soon enable this sort of hacking—which would unsettle the basic security and privacy that undergird the modern internet.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 9 Apr. 2026
The frontier myth undergirded their policies.
—Literary Hub, 1 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for undergird
Cite this Entry
“Undergird.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/undergird. Accessed 15 Apr. 2026.
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undergird
verb
