How to Use undergird in a Sentence

undergird

verb
  • Many of us have brushed against the threat that undergirds a parking claim.
    — Henry Grabar, Harper's Magazine, 21 Apr. 2023
  • That fear, undergirding all of our hard work.
    — Mike Ryan, IndieWire, 12 Mar. 2026
  • But there are key threads undergirding it.
    — Megan Feringa, New York Times, 17 May 2026
  • For much of the film, that enticing idea undergirds the main plot line like a ticking time bomb.
    — Gregory Nussen, Deadline, 3 Sep. 2025
  • But the vision of change undergirding the media’s sense of itself may not be enough.
    — James Poulos, Orange County Register, 4 Feb. 2017
  • But what undergirds that is a sadness, or an anxiety, or something else.
    — Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 16 Jan. 2025
  • The rankings and the systems that undergird them are biased and broken.
    — David Rosowsky, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2023
  • So age has been something that's always been undergirding.
    — Dana Taylor, USA Today, 10 Dec. 2025
  • Questions like this one seem to undergird much of Kosinski’s work.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 28 June 2025
  • Institutions may look the same, but the values, norms and freedoms that undergird them have worn away.
    — Washington Post, 22 Apr. 2022
  • The canopies, which are undergirded by steel tubes and connected by steel rods, balance each other.
    — Blair Kamin, chicagotribune.com, 11 Oct. 2019
  • Yet his empire of quiet is undergirded by unease.
    — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2026
  • There is a futile and eternal sense of tardiness that undergirds even the best of journalism.
    — Jeb Lund, Esquire, 20 Jan. 2017
  • Many of us take for granted creative license and the freedom of expression that undergirds it.
    — Thomas Chatterton Williams, The Atlantic, 6 Feb. 2025
  • That's the ultimate question that undergirds the debate over the future of the post office.
    — Felix Salmon, Axios, 24 Feb. 2025
  • What happens if these same arguments undergird claims to the presidency on the left?
    — Time, 16 Jan. 2020
  • As proof, the young president can point to his own quick rise to the top, a stunning success that undergirds many of his pronouncements.
    — Adam Nossiter, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2018
  • Even on tour, fans go expecting dramatic catharsis to be undergirding all that glee.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 3 Oct. 2025
  • Of course, the talent-versus-suits morality tale that undergirds Biskind’s books is never that clean.
    — Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2023
  • For a hybrid team, this is exactly the right place to start building the social contract that undergirds everything the team does.
    — Ann Kowal Smith, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024
  • Even fewer knew how to undergird that anger with a palpable sense of love, understanding, and genuine hope for the future.
    — Michael Cuby, Them, 1 Aug. 2024
  • What happened to the conservative principles that used to undergird the party for decades?
    — CNN, 21 Aug. 2020
  • Elizebeth also helped to invent the science that undergirds a lot of the NSA’s work.
    — National Geographic, 7 Oct. 2017
  • The frontier myth undergirded their policies.
    — Literary Hub, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Previously, the radial belts that undergird the tread rubber were laid-on flat and straight across from one of the tires' shoulders to the other.
    — Rich Ceppos, Car and Driver, 3 Oct. 2022
  • That’s a speech that hasn’t aged a minute, but Hawke isn’t undergirding it with full Ibsenian backbone.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2025
  • An ambient faith in progress, which Alam expertly conveys, undergirds Brooke’s sense of the world.
    — Laura Miller, The New Yorker, 16 Sep. 2024
  • The irony undergirding the new wave of obesity drugs is that they initially weren’t created for obesity at all.
    — Yasmin Tayag, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2024
  • Strong job growth in the region undergirds Fort Worth’s population boom, experts said.
    — Joshua Fechter, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
  • Mortgage rates move more closely in step with longer term interest rates in the bond market but are undergirded by interbank lending rates in the short term.
    — Sylvan Lane, The Hill, 17 Apr. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'undergird.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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