underpin

verb un·der·pin \ ˌən-dər-ˈpin \

|Updated on: 20 Jul 2018

Examples: underpin in a Sentence

Definition of underpin

underpinned; underpinning; underpins

transitive verb

1 : support, substantiate

underpin a thesis with evidence

2 : to form part of, strengthen, or replace the foundation of

underpin a structure

underpin a sagging building

See underpin defined for English-language learners

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Examples of underpin in a Sentence

a wall underpinned by metal beams
the central beliefs that underpin a free society

Recent Examples of underpin from the Web

Something that a lot of people don’t know about Silicon Valley is the huge sort of underpinning force of people who work every day to do what’s right by people.

— recode staff, Recode, "Full transcript: Charlotte and Dave Willner, plus Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on Recode Decode," 9 July 2018
Several analysts have raised their ratings on Caterpillar recently, with Citigroup Inc. this week saying that increased capital returns and better Chinese economic data will underpin the stock in the next six to 12 months.

— joe deaux, chicagotribune.com, "Caterpillar shares sink on good-as-it-gets earnings guidance," 24 Apr. 2018
Though inflation has stayed stable at about a half percentage point below the Fed’s 2% target, several factors coalesced to disrupt the complacency that underpinned a virtually unprecedented run of market tranquility.

— tom saler, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Saler: New Fed chief's challenge may become increasingly daunting," 9 Feb. 2018
Big banks are increasingly betting that blockchain software, which underpins bitcoin and creates an immutable record of transactions, will provide a cheaper and faster alternative to legacy money transfer systems.

— jeff john roberts, Fortune, "Ripple Countersues in $12 Billion Fight Over XRP Options," 9 Jan. 2018
Heavy lifting Federighi then turned to discussing some under-the-hood details about technologies that underpin Mojave.

— samuel axon, Ars Technica, "Apple announces macOS 10.14 “Mojave”," 4 June 2018
Last year's winner of the Turing Award was Tim Berners-Lee, who created the technology that underpins the web.

— klint finley, WIRED, "'Computing's Nobel Prize' Winners Paved the Way to Smartphone Chips," 21 Mar. 2018
The upshot, though, is this: Everything about the infrastructure that underpins 911 was built for landlines.

— brian barrett, WIRED, "By Pushing Your Location Straight to 911, iOS 12 Will Save Lives," 18 June 2018
National and political considerations seem to be underpinning the move.

— tara isabella burton, Vox, "Austria is closing 7 mosques and kicking out 60 imams," 8 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'underpin.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.