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Synonyms

underprop

American  
[uhn-der-prop] / ˌʌn dərˈprɒp /

verb (used with object)

underpropped, underpropping
  1. to prop underneath; support; uphold.


underprop British  
/ ˌʌndəˈprɒp /

verb

  1. (tr) to prop up from beneath

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of underprop

First recorded in 1505–15; under- + prop 1

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:

An acquaintance of Lowell’s bemoaned the habit Lowell had of “jumping at some general idea or theorem,” after which he “selects and bends facts to underprop that generalization.”

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 22, 2025

And so the food is taken to underprop The tottering joints, and by its interfusion To re-create their powers, and there stop up The longing, open-mouthed through limbs and veins, For eating.

From On the Nature of Things by William Ellery Leonard

What penny hath Rome borne, What men provided, what munition sent, To underprop this action?

From King John by William Shakespeare

For those He loves that underprop With daily virtues Heaven’s top, And bear the falling sky with ease, Unfrowning caryatides.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 14 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson

For this self-confidence, which might to a careless observer seem to underprop Peter’s courage, was to the eye of the Lord undermining it.

From The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St John, Vol. II by Marcus Dods

Second, we were underpropped by more than an inch.

From Time Magazine Archive

Some have I see even in their last sickness, set up in their deathbed, underpropped with pillows, take their playfellows to them and comfort themselves with cards.

From Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation With Modifications To Obsolete Language By Monica Stevens by Monica Stevens

Nor indeed can any party be so much strengthened and underpropped, as it will be weakened and undermined by such courses. 

From Sermons on Evil-Speaking by Isaac Barrow

The bear having seized the handle, was shaking it as well as Zbyszko, and notwithstanding the pain caused by every movement of the points imbedded in his breast, be would not let it be "underpropped."

From The Knights of the Cross or, Krzyzacy by Samuel A. Binion

Trees newly planted must be supported, underpropped, strengthened and defended against all tempests, mischiefs, injuries, and calamities.

From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 3 by Peter Anthony Motteux

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