supportive

American  

[suh-pawr-tiv, -pohr-] / səˈpɔr tɪv, -ˈpoʊr- /

adjective

1. giving support.

2. providing sympathy or encouragement.

   His family was supportive of his attempts to be a writer.

3. providing additional help, information, etc.; auxiliary.

   manufacturers of supportive materials.

4. Medicine/Medical. helping to maintain a normal physiological balance, as by the intravenous administration of required nutriment.

---

supportive British  

/ səˈpɔːtɪv /

adjective

1. providing support, esp moral or emotional support

---

Other Word Forms

• nonsupportive
  adjective
• supportively
  adverb
• supportiveness
  noun
• unsupportive
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of supportive

First recorded in 1585–95; support + -ive

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.

Example Sentences

The yen’s strength, which typically lowers Japan’s import prices and reduces inflationary pressures, is another JGB-price supportive factor.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

But the results point to a large number of young people who are supportive of immigrants and simmering anger over the way the administration has carried out deportations.

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026

Germany and Japan remains supportive, and so, while U.S. equities are the preference, there are pockets of Europe and Japan where it feels comfortable, notably in industrials, materials, tech and utilities.

From MarketWatch • May 6, 2026

Once in place, it forms a supportive structure that encourages cell growth and tissue repair.

From Science Daily • May 5, 2026

“I can tell you’re not crying because we got trashed at the Quiz Bowl, in front of our own supportive home-state audience,” a voice says.

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali