| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | brace, support |
| Synonyms: | abutment, column, mainstay, pier, prop, reinforcement, shore, stanchion, stay, strut, underpinning |
| Main Entry: | bolster |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | help |
| Synonyms: | aid, assist, bear up, boost, brace, buck up, bulwark, buoy, buttress, carry, cushion, help, hold up, maintain, pick up, pillow, prop, reinforce, shore up, stay, strengthen, support, sustain, uphold |
| Antonyms: | hinder, not support, obstruct, prevent, undermine |
| Main Entry: | brace |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | support |
| Synonyms: | arm, band, bar, bearing, block, bolster, boom, bracer, bracket, buttress, cantilever, clamp, girder, grip, guy, lever, mainstay, peg, prop, rafter, reinforcement, rib, shore, skid, splice, splint, staff, stanchion, stave, stay, stirrup, strengthener, strut, sustainer, truss, underpinning, vice |
| Main Entry: | brace |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | support |
| Synonyms: | bandage, bind, bolster, buttress, fasten, fortify, gird, hold up, prepare, prop, ready, reinforce, shove, steady, steel, strap, strengthen, support, tie, tighten, uphold |
| Antonyms: | let go, loosen, unfasten |
| Main Entry: | bulwark |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | fortification, support |
| Synonyms: | barrier, bastion, buffet, buttress, citadel, defense, embankment, fort, fortress, guard, mainstay, outwork, parapet, partition, protection, rampart, redoubt, safeguard, security, stronghold, vallation |
| Antonyms: | weak point |
| Main Entry: | column |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | pillar |
| Synonyms: | brace, buttress, caryatid, colonnade, cylinder, mast, minaret, monolith, monument, obelisk, pedestal, peristyle, pier, pilaster, post, prop, pylon, shaft, standard, stay, stele, support, totem, tower, underpinning, upright |
| Main Entry: | confirm |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | reinforce |
| Synonyms: | assure, buttress, clinch, establish, fix, fortify, invigorate, make firm, settle, strengthen |
| Notes: | corroborate is used in a narrower context, usually by way of providing support for testimony in a legal proceeding; confirm is to lend support to a much wider array of things |
| Antonyms: | contradict, deny, destroy, oppose, repudiate, void |
| Main Entry: | cushion |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | pad, protect from blow |
| Synonyms: | bolster, buttress, cradle, dampen, deaden, insulate, muffle, pillow, seclude, soften, stifle, support, suppress |
| Main Entry: | defense |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | armament; protection system |
| Synonyms: | aegis, armor, arms, barricade, bastille, bastion, bulwark, buttress, citadel, cover, deterrence, dike, embankment, fastness, fence, fort, fortification, fortress, garrison, guard, immunity, munitions, palisade, parapet, position, protection, rampart, redoubt, resistance, safeguard, security, shelter, shield, stockade, stronghold, trench, wall, ward, warfare, weaponry, weapons |
| Antonyms: | desertion, flight, surrender |