noun
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nautical the forestay that braces the mainmast
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a chief support
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mainstay
Explanation
A mainstay is something that acts as a source of support for a community. If your hometown's economy depends on tourists visiting every summer, you could say that tourism is the mainstay of your town. A mainstay holds everything together, whether it's your grandmother who acts as the anchor of your whole crazy family, a pillar that physically keeps a building from falling down, or the job that enables you to pay your rent every month. The noun mainstay is originally a nautical term meaning the rope that stabilizes two masts on a sailboat, and since the 1780s it's been used to mean "chief support."
Vocabulary lists containing mainstay
Beowulf
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This Week In Culture: October 5–11, 2019
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Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
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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:
Enter veteran character actor Lin Shaye, whose psychic Elise has been a series mainstay and a reliable provider of expository dialogue, despite the fact that her character died at the end of the 2011 original.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Romero joined Tottenham from Atalanta in 2021 and became a mainstay in their defence, making 156 appearances.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
The mainstay automotive segment booked an operating margin of 2.3%, down from 5.4% a year earlier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Agriculture and farming are a mainstay of North Dakota’s economy.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
Owners no longer had the economic clout of being a mainstay of the economy.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
Circularity and self-referentiality are mainstays in Cowin’s work, wry disruptor that she is.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
When I reported on the business of Starbucks last year, analysts pointed to a major shift happening in the drinks market: concept-forward drinks are outperforming other traditional mainstays in the landscape.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
The two winners will sit in New York’s Celebrity Row, a section that typically features mainstays like Ben Stiller, Fat Joe and Timothee Chalamet.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 8, 2026
And of course the other mainstays, Declan Rice and Harry Kane.
From BBC ● Apr. 1, 2026
Her in-laws were mainstays of the town’s Negro elite.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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.
