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Glite Dictionary
🍞 To keep alive 🔁 To continue 🤕 To suffer ⚖️ To accept legally 🪨 To support physically 📚 To support with facts
to sustain

to sustain

14 4.7
To support an idea or claim with evidence
  • verb
  • /səˈsteɪn/
  • Formal
translation icon : respaldar
  • To win the debate, she needed to sustain her argument with credible facts and statistics.
  • sustain the claim
  • evidence to sustain
  • sustain the thesis

I've read a lot more since then, and so yes, I think the weight of the evidence just doesn't sustain the idea that addiction is something that's out of your control.

Examples

  • In my book I sustain the theory that the murder committed for intellectual reasons does not exist in the real world.

    The Oxford Murders (2008)

  • Unfortunately, there is little positive evidence in the story to sustain such a reading.

    Academic text (1991)

  • And I go, how do you sustain fans to be interested in a project that long?

  • I train you so that you can to sustain this argument in a real court .

    Come What May (2009)

  • Again, this claim was essential if the diffusionist theory was to be sustained.

    Academic text (2008)

  • It is this right of association that sustains and nurtures our democracy.

  • I am talking about a fairly narrow use of religiously grounded arguments to sustain legislative judgments.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Skepticism is mounting regarding politicians' capacity to generate economic policies capable of sustaining the legitimacy of democratic governments.

    Academic text (1997)

  • The lawyer provided ample evidence to sustain his client's innocence during the trial.

  • Researchers conducted experiments to sustain their hypothesis about climate change.

Synonyms

to confirm
vsto sustain
∞ 1.8

To show that something is true by giving evidence

aims both to prove validity and to strengthen an argument with evidence
to support
vsto sustain
572 2.1

Give facts or evidence that show a claim is true

highlights proving and strengthening an argument with evidence
to establish
vsto sustain
  • Formal
319 4.1

To show something is true using evidence

also focuses on strengthening an argument as well as proving validity
to corroborate
vsto sustain
111 9.0

Use evidence to show that a statement or idea is true

focuses on confirming a statement by evidence rather than strengthening
to substantiate
vsto sustain
  • Formal
44 7.2

To show that something is true by giving proof or facts

focuses more on strengthening an argument rather than proving only
to buttress
vsto sustain
  • Formal
9 7.1

To make an argument or idea stronger by adding facts

requires providing supporting evidence to prove or strengthen an argument
to hold up to scrutiny
vsto sustain
1 5.3

To still be correct when people look at it carefully

is an active process of proving or strengthening by adding supporting evidence
to buttress a claim
vsto sustain
  • Formal
6.7

To give more evidence or reasons to make a claim stronger

emphasizes proving an argument's validity as well as adding evidence

Antonyms

to weaken
305 2.8

To make people and things less strong or effective

to invalidate
  • Formal
33 6.1

To make a document or agreement have no legal effect anymore

How Strong

to prove
∞ 3.1
to demonstrate
579 3.0
to sustain
  • Formal
14 4.7
to corroborate
111 9.0
to support
572 2.1
to suggest
∞ 1.6

Surface Forms

sustain infinitive
sustained past
sustained past participle
sustaining present participle
sustains third person singular

Etymology

Sustain comes from Latin parts sub- 'under' and tenere 'to hold', so it meant 'hold up' with support. So when facts sustain an argument, they 'hold it up' and make the idea stronger.