support
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To hold something up, or to give someone help and encouragement.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
suhpawrtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
səˈpɔɹt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To help keep from falling.
transitive
To help, particularly financially; to subsidize.
transitive
To back or favor a cause, party, etc., mentally or with concrete aid
transitive
To provide sustenance or maintenance for; to sustain in integrity or livelihood.
Support with evidence or authority or make more certain or confirm
Establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts
noun
Financial or other help.
Answers to questions and resolution of problems regarding something sold.
Evidence.
An actor playing a subordinate part with a star.
An accompaniment in music.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To help keep from falling.
Used this way, support is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use support
- “She supported him during the illness.”verb
- “Olivier supported Gielgud beautifully in the second act.”verb
- “She supported the motion to strike.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Sustained or maintained by aid (as distinct from physical support).
The act of bearing the weight of or strengthening.
A person who backs a politician or a team etc.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Furnishing support or assistance.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Elasticized stocking intended to reduce pressure on the veins of the leg (as in case of varicose veins).
A network of facilities and people who interact and remain in informal communication for mutual assistance.
The price at which a certain security becomes attractive to investors.
Elasticized stocking intended to reduce pressure on the veins of the leg (as in case of varicose veins).
Fire delivered by supporting units to protect or assist a unit in combat.
A cast other than the principals.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A radical Islamic group of terrorists in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan who oppose an independent secular nation as advocated by the United States.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.