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
Adelle Waldman, New Yorker, 31 May 2025
Recently, the Council’s National Commission on Innovation and Competitiveness Frontiers issued a call to action in its report, Competing in the Next Economy: Innovating in An Age of Disruption and Discontinuity, undergirded by seven strategic pillars.
—Deborah Wince-Smith, Forbes.com, 7 Apr. 2025
In our redoubt, lawfare is a catastrophe for the legitimacy of our judicial system and for the rule of law that undergirds a secure, prosperous, free society — no matter what party is the practitioner.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 31 Mar. 2025
But the truth is that both countries’ efforts to reduce their mutual trade dependence long predated the 2020 pandemic and substantially undergirded the Phase One deal’s failure.
—Brendan Kelly, Foreign Affairs, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for undergird
Cite this Entry
“Undergird.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/undergird. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.
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undergird
verb
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