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.
The union has also received supportive messages from several elected officials.
From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026
AWP's chief operating officer, Mathew Page, said it was a "safe and supportive place" for women to turn to and help them "avoid a hospital admission".
From BBC • May 12, 2026
Altman is expected to make the case to nine jurors that Musk wasn’t only initially supportive of OpenAI’s for-profit conversion but that he also requested unilateral control.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
AI companions are always available, highly personalized, and often designed to respond in agreeable and supportive ways.
From Science Daily • May 11, 2026
I’m surrounded by friends, by family, by my teammates and coach, and by warm, supportive strangers.
From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen
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.
