supportive
Americanadjective
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giving support.
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providing sympathy or encouragement.
His family was supportive of his attempts to be a writer.
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providing additional help, information, etc.; auxiliary.
manufacturers of supportive materials.
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Medicine/Medical. helping to maintain a normal physiological balance, as by the intravenous administration of required nutriment.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of supportive
Explanation
To be supportive is to give help or assistance, or to hold something or someone up. If your parents are supportive of your dreams to become a chef, they might enroll you in cooking classes. Supportive is a snuggly word. Anything that supports you, or embraces you and holds you up is supportive. It can be physically supportive, like a girdle that holds your belly in, or emotionally supportive like a loving family or solid network of friends. A parent paying for a child's college bills is supportive financially. Things can be supportive, too — posts holding up a building are supportive. Being supportive is a good thing.
Vocabulary lists containing supportive
Dear Martin
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Nothing But the Truth
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Father's Day Words
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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.
Your role is to focus on your wife’s well-being and “show up nonjudgmentally,” Cacciatore says: “A silent, nonintrusive and supportive presence is a lasting gift.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
Actor Melanie Walters has said her Gavin and Stacey co-stars have been "hugely supportive" of her Strictly Come Dancing debut, with Joanna Page "very excited" for her to take to the ballroom floor.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
These include rapid diagnosis, isolating infected patients, tracing people who may have been exposed, strengthening infection control, and providing supportive medical care.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
From mid-2024 and through the end of the year, Musk tweeted around a dozen times about Reform’s leader Nigel Farage—mostly short, supportive responses to Farage’s posts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Blake and Josh have been supportive and have helped me through the times when a girl needs big brothers.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
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.
