Undergirds [verb]

The demonstrators in Washington want to take those foundational principles, principles that have undergirded this nation for 250 years, and toss them out.

These include the commands undergirding such basic intracellular activities as how energy is derived from hydrocarbon molecules, and the coding system by which nucleic acids are translated into proteins.

Quiroga contends that we can form and use these memories in ways unique to us, without the pattern separation seen in many other species, undergirding what makes us special.

The West has long marveled at the business empire built by Tencent, whose ubiquitous everything-app, WeChat, undergirds so much of daily life in China.

Liu has denied that geopolitics undergird his work, but Fan writes that when the book was published “the models for Trisolaris and Earth were immediately apparent.”

Multiplied to infinity, choices no longer undergird values, but options that are equally mediocre.

In this universe, literacy and religion undergird the legal system.