buttressing
- noun
- /ˈbʌtrəsɪŋ/
- Specialized
- The stone buttressing around the castle added both strength and an impressive appearance.
Examples
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These buttressing structures are crucial for providing support to the building during heavy storms.
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Look at each rib section, almost like flying buttresses along the roof lines of a great cathedral.
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With lidless eyes he saw before him the deep brown pool between the great buttress roots of an Alder.
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Despite my exhaustion, despite the Tylenol, despite the buttressing of pillows and the cool touch of an ice bag, I could sleep for only a few minutes at a time.
Academic text (1998) -
"Indeed, in some situations the strength of one's social identity as Indian can be sufficient to prompt conscious rejection of latter-day "cultural" and "ideological" buttressing of community "Indianness."
Academic text (1995) -
The architect designed beautiful buttressing that supported the ancient church's walls.
Synonyms
A thing that holds up weight, like a pillar
A support built against a wall to keep it standing
An outer support that stands away from a wall and connects to it by an arch on churches
Antonyms
How Supportive
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Buttressing comes from the word buttress, which goes back to an old word meaning 'to push' or 'support'. So buttressing is the building of supports that 'push' against a wall to keep it standing.