buttress
to support, strengthen, or back up
Word origin: From Old French bouterez, a supporting structure, from bouter to thrust.
Buttress in a sentence
Here are example sentences showing buttress in a sentence.
She buttressed her argument with data from three independent studies.
Additional fieldwork buttressed the theory that the settlement had been abandoned suddenly.
Using “buttress” well
As a verb, buttress means to support or strengthen, often an argument. The image is the architectural buttress that braces a wall from outside.
More GRE words starting with B
marked by riotous, unrestrained revelry and drunken festivity
to pester or harass someone persistently
light, playful, and witty banter
to confuse or perplex thoroughly
threatening harm or menacing in a sinister way
to hesitate or refuse to proceed with something
to swell or puff out, or to increase rapidly in amount or size
lacking originality and so dull or commonplace
Questions about “buttress”
See these words the way the GRE tests them.
Definitions in isolation do not stick. Sit a free, full-length GRE mock and meet this vocabulary inside real text completion and sentence equivalence questions, with your score and a worked solution for every answer.