prop up

phrasal verb

propped up; propping up; props up

1

: to stop (something) from falling or slipping by placing something under or against it

We propped up the beams with long boards.

propped the plant stems up

2

: to give help, encouragement, or support to (someone)

His faith propped him up in times of crisis.

Examples of prop up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Chucheng Feng, a partner at Hutong Research in Beijing, is on the lookout for signs that the leadership will unleash anti-corruption forces on the problem this year, targeting and punishing local government officials who prop up zombie firms in order to ward off political backlash. —Andy Browne, semafor.com, 8 Jan. 2026

The trio snuggled up to watch two other cute sisters — Bluey and her little sibling, Bingo — on a tablet propped up in bed in what appeared to be a hotel room. —Kayla Grant, PEOPLE, 7 Jan. 2026

These subsidies, propped up through various legislative packages over the years, lowered the health insurance costs for Americans on the Obamacare exchange. —Sorelle Wyckoff Gaynor, The Conversation, 7 Jan. 2026

The latter has almost single-handedly propped up the state’s economy and generated a huge portion of tax revenues, but layoffs have proliferated as artificial intelligence is increasingly employed — a syndrome that also affects Hollywood. —Dan Walters, Mercury News, 6 Jan. 2026

Rhymes for prop up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup