underpinnings

/ ˈʌndəˌpɪnɪŋz /

plural noun

1. any supporting structure or system

Example Sentences

The danger is that the Gaza ceasefire lacks those underpinnings.

Read more on BBC

And some companies that are more vulnerable to policy changes, either by the narrower nature of their business, or because they had more fragile financial underpinnings, are feeling it.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In other words, why choose to scrutinize a fistful of merits cases and their supposed legal underpinnings, i.e., what the court wants us to focus on, in service of its claims to immutable legitimacy, rather than to ask questions about the legitimacy of the entire enterprise itself?

Read more on Slate

“It’s also a move away from a focus on the intellectual underpinnings of the American project, which was an essential message for past presidents, regardless of party.”

Read more on Salon

It was part of our underpinnings, so to speak.

Read more on Los Angeles Times