# support

/səˈpɔɹt/ (US) · /səpˈɔːt/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/support
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. to help or encourage

verb · CEFR A2

to help someone or agree with their ideas because you want them to succeed.

For teachers: to give assistance to or express agreement with a person, cause, or policy.

- My family always supports me when I decide to try something new.
- The local community rallied to support the initiative, providing both volunteer hours and significant financial donations to the cause.

### 2. to hold up

verb · CEFR B1

to hold the weight of something so that it does not fall.

For teachers: to bear the weight of an object or structure to maintain its stability.

- These strong wooden beams support the entire roof of the house.
- Engineers reinforced the foundation with steel pilings to support the additional weight of the proposed third storey.

### 3. to provide evidence

verb · CEFR B2 · Academic

to show that an idea or a statement is true by providing facts.

For teachers: to provide evidence for or lend credibility to a hypothesis or claim.

- The latest data supports the theory that the climate is changing quickly.
- The findings of the longitudinal study support the hypothesis that early intervention significantly improves literacy outcomes in primary school children.

### 4. technical compatibility

verb · CEFR B1 · Technical

to be able to work with a specific type of software or hardware.

For teachers: to be designed to provide capacity for or be compatible with a specific program or file type.

- Does this old computer support the latest version of the video editor?
- The updated operating system no longer supports legacy hardware, forcing many users to upgrade their peripheral devices.

### 5. help and encouragement

noun · CEFR A2

the help or encouragement you give to someone.

For teachers: assistance, encouragement, or approval given to a person or an organisation.

- I couldn't have finished the marathon without the support of my friends.
- The candidate's campaign gained momentum after receiving vocal support from several influential labour unions.

### 6. technical assistance

noun · CEFR B1

a service that helps customers solve problems with a product.

For teachers: a service provided by a company to handle technical issues or customer enquiries.

- If you can't log in, you should call technical support for help.
- The software company offers twenty-four-hour support to ensure that enterprise clients experience minimal downtime during system migrations.

### 7. mathematical set

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical · Academic

the set of points where a mathematical function is not zero.

For teachers: the set of points in the domain of a function where the function's value is non-zero.

- The support of this function is limited to a small range of numbers.
- In functional analysis, we often consider functions with compact support to simplify the integration process over infinite domains.

## Examples

- I really appreciate all the support you gave me during the move.
- The bridge requires additional steel support to handle the weight of the new high-speed trains.
- The software update includes full support for legacy file formats, ensuring that long-term users do not lose access to their archived data during the transition.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.