bolster
Americannoun
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bolsters
plural
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a long, often cylindrical, cushion or pillow for a bed, sofa, etc.
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anything resembling this in form or in use as a support.
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any pillow, cushion, or pad.
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Nautical.
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Also called bolster plate. a circular casting on the side of a vessel, through which an anchor chain passes.
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a timber used as a temporary support.
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a beam for holding lines or rigging without chafing.
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a bag filled with buoyant material, fitted into a small boat.
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Metalworking. an anvillike support for the lower die of a drop forge.
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Masonry.
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a timber or the like connecting two ribs of a centering.
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a chisel with a blade splayed toward the edge, used for cutting bricks.
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Carpentry. a horizontal timber on a post for lessening the free span of a beam.
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a structural member on which one end of a bridge truss rests.
verb (used with object)
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bolsters,
present (3rd person singular)
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bolstered,
past participle, past
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bolstering
present participle
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to support with or as with a pillow or cushion.
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to add to, support, strengthen, or uphold (sometimes followed byup ).
They bolstered their morale by singing.
He bolstered up his claim with new evidence.
- Synonyms:
- fortify, reinforce, aid, sustain, strengthen
verb
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(often foll by up) to support or reinforce; strengthen
to bolster morale
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to prop up with a pillow or cushion
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to add padding to
to bolster a dress
noun
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a long narrow pillow or cushion
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any pad or padded support
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architect a short horizontal length of timber fixed to the top of a post to increase the bearing area and reduce the span of the supported beam
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a cold chisel having a broad blade splayed towards the cutting edge, used for cutting stone slabs, etc
Synonym Usage
See cushion.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bolstersimple
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bolsterssimple
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have bolsteredperfect
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has bolsteredperfect
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am bolsteringprogressive
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are bolsteringprogressive
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is bolsteringprogressive
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have been bolsteringperfect progressive
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has been bolsteringperfect progressive
Past
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bolsteredsimple
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had bolsteredperfect
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was bolsteringprogressive
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were bolsteringprogressive
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had been bolsteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bolster
First recorded before 1000; Middle English bolstre (noun), Old English bolster; cognate with Old Norse bolstr, Dutch bolster, German Polster
Explanation
When you cheer up a friend who's feeling down, you bolster them. To bolster is to offer support or strengthen. A bolster is also the name of a long pillow you might use to make your back feel better. And the two uses are not dissimilar. When you bolster your friends, you support them and prop them up, just like the pillow does for your back. When you're trying to bolster your credibility, you find people and/or documents that support you or your view. Bolster efforts to learn this word!
Vocabulary lists containing bolster
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 1
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "B" & "C"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The US stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to bolster the country's defenses against military threats from Pyongyang.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Many customers overseas are also dealing with inflation, but companies can use expansion in those markets to bolster growth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
With nine signings already in the building, McInnes wants to further bolster his squad.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
California’s Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to vote next week to approve the merger that would bolster Southern California’s dominant provider with more than 5 million customers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Cahokia’s rulers tried to bolster their position by building even bigger houses and flaunting even more luxury goods like fancy pottery and jewelry made from exotic semiprecious stones.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
They also used footage to piece together Mangione's alleged movements after the shooting, and ballistics and fingerprint evidence they claim bolsters their case.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
In a broadly sweet, vivacious and gorgeously sung set Tuesday, that sentiment revealed the moral clarity that bolsters her songs about devotion and intimacy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The way everyone responded to this error—by turning a simple mistake into a ritual flogging—only bolsters the toxic notion that the press is forever viciously intruding on the secret, sacred work of perfect jurists.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026
“The inflation outlook has intensified as the Iran war boosts energy costs, tariffs weigh on goods prices, and the AI data build out bolsters prices,” write my colleagues Josh Schafer and Megan Leonhardt.
From Barron's ● May 28, 2026
Two bolsters can be piled on top of each other.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
They’re blindly screaming their heads off, bolstered by the person who stopped molding herself in someone else’s image, who refused to cater to how the world or the industry thought she should appear.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
Strong revenue performance was bolstered by growth on key payment metrics, showing resilient and steady consumer spending despite macroeconomic uncertainty.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
Diaz, who works for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service in El Paso, Texas, builds apps in his spare time—and loves how Codex and ChatGPT have bolstered his coding ability.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
She was also bolstered to see women continuing to compete even as their families grow.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
It wasn’t a lie, and Ophie just hoped it bolstered whatever pleas Penelope had made.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
Procter & Gamble PG 1.47%increase; green up pointing triangle will buy supplement company Thorne for $3.8 billion, bolstering the consumer giant’s presence in the beauty and wellness industry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
The Dodgers swing a deal for Detroit Tigers ace left-hander Tarik Skubal ahead of the trade deadline, bolstering their hopes for a third straight World Series title.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026
Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky is due to hold important talks with US President Donald Trump at the White House, where he is hoping to firm up commitments to bolstering Kyiv's anti-ballistic missile defences.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Additionally, he said that the federal government’s focus on bolstering its cybersecurity posture should benefit the company.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026
The two theories had to be congenitally linked—each bolstering and completing the other.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
