shoring up

Propping something up

Shoring up means strengthening or supporting something that is weak, unstable, or at risk of collapse.

The image comes from construction, where shores are temporary supports bracing a structure: Workers shored up the crumbling foundation.

More often figurative: The Fed shored up the banking system, She's been shoring up support among undecided voters.

Related

financial support · reinforcement · consolidating · propping up · holding together · scaffold · underpinning · sustain · averting · girding · post · bolstering · stabilizing · backstopping · damage control · mitigating · emergency measures · strengthening

Categories
Opposites
structural support

shoring updemolishing

Destroying a structure completely

dismantling · tearing down · undermining · destabilizing · weakening

Family

shore, seashore, shoreline, ashore, offshore, upping, shored, inshore, onshore

Familiarity
Top 500,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Everyday, not technical · Rated G