What does support mean?

What does support mean?. The world's largest and most trusted free online dictionary: definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more.

What does support mean? - The Free Dictionary

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[n] the activity of providing for or maintaining by supplying with money or necessities(his support kept the family together they gave him emotional support during difficult times)[v] give moral or psychological support, aid, or courage to(She supported him during the illness Her children

support

support - The Free Dictionary

[n] the activity of providing for or maintaining by supplying with money or necessities
(his support kept the family together they gave him emotional support during difficult times)

[v] give moral or psychological support, aid, or courage to
(She supported him during the illness Her children always backed her up)

[n] aiding the cause or policy or interests of
(the president no longer has the support of his own party they developed a scheme of mutual support)

[v] support materially or financially
(he does not support his natural children The scholarship supported me when I was in college)

[n] something providing immaterial assistance to a person or cause or interest
(the policy found little public support his faith was all the support he needed the team enjoyed the support of their fans)

[v] be behind; approve of
(He plumped for the Labor Party I backed Kennedy in 1960)

[n] a military operation (often involving new supplies of men and materiel) to strengthen a military force or aid in the performance of its mission
(they called for artillery support)

[v] be the physical support of; carry the weight of
(The beam holds up the roof He supported me with one hand while I balanced on the beam What's holding that mirror?)

[n] documentary validation
(his documentation of the results was excellent the strongest support for this view is the work of Jones)

[v] establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts
(his story confirmed my doubts The evidence supports the defendant)

[n] the financial means whereby one lives
(each child was expected to pay for their keep he applied to the state for support he could no longer earn his own livelihood)

[v] adopt as a belief
(I subscribe to your view on abortion)

[n] supporting structure that holds up or provides a foundation
(the statue stood on a marble support)

[v] support with evidence or authority or make more certain or confirm
(The stories and claims were born out by the evidence)

[n] the act of bearing the weight of or strengthening
(he leaned against the wall for support)

[v] argue or speak in defense of
(She supported the motion to strike)

[n] a musical part (vocal or instrumental) that supports or provides background for other musical parts

[v] play a subordinate role to (another performer)
(Olivier supported Gielgud beautifully in the second act)

[n] any device that bears the weight of another thing
(there was no place to attach supports for a shelf)

[v] be a regular customer or client of
(We patronize this store Our sponsor kept our art studio going for as long as he could)

[n] financial resources provided to make some project possible
(the foundation provided support for the experiment)

[v] put up with something or somebody unpleasant
(I cannot bear his constant criticism The new secretary had to endure a lot of unprofessional remarks he learned to tolerate the heat She stuck out two years in a miserable marriage)

Other vocabulary

's gravenhage, s, s wrench, s-shape, s-shaped, s. s. van dine, s. smith stevens, s.t.p., s.u.v., s/n, sa, sa node, saale, saale glaciation, saale river, saame, saami, saarinen, saba, sabah, sabahan, sabal, sabal palmetto, sabaoth, sabaton, sabayon, sabbat, sabbatarian, sabbath, sabbath school, u, u-boat, u-drive, u-shaped, u-turn, u. s. air force, u. s. army, u. s. army special forces, u. s. coast guard, u. s. code, u.k., u.s., u.s. army criminal investigation laboratory, u.s. congress, u.s. constitution, u.s. government, u.s. house, u.s. house of representatives, u.s. mint, u.s. national library of medicine, u.s. senate, u.s. waters, u.s.a., u308, uakari, ubermensch, ubiety, ubiquinone, ubiquitous, ubiquitousness

Dictionary

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed[citation needed] to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), and rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose monolingual dictionary.

There is also a contrast between prescriptive or descriptive dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called lexicography, and largely initiated by Ladislav Zgusta. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.