underpin
Other forms: underpinning; underpinned; underpins
To underpin is to justify or support the ideas behind something, the way your extensive research underpins your self-published book on ice cream trucks in the United States.
Whenever you substantiate someone's claims, theories, or stories, you underpin them. A slightly different way to underpin is to form the basis or foundation of something: "A philosophy of empathy and kindness underpins all the interactions at my wonderful summer camp." This verb can also be used in a more literal way, to mean "support from below," the way the foundation of a house underpins everything that's built on top of it.
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support with evidence or authority or make more certain or confirm
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support from beneath
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Vocabulary lists containing underpin
Dicey and her siblings adjust to life on their grandmother's farm.
Science journalist Charles Seife discusses the history of the number zero, from its origin as an Eastern philosophical concept to its rise as an important tool in mathematics to its current threat to modern physics.
Hazel Motes, a World War II veteran, returns to his Tennessee hometown to begin a "ministry" against religion.