different between strengthen vs sustain
strengthen
English
Etymology
From rare Middle English strengthenen (14th c.), from earlier strengthen (12th c.), where -en is the infinitive ending. Probably the original form was reinterpreted as strength +? -en around the time when the infinitive ending was being apocopated in late Middle English.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?st???(k)??n/, /?st??n??n/
Verb
strengthen (third-person singular simple present strengthens, present participle strengthening, simple past and past participle strengthened)
- (transitive) To make strong or stronger; to add strength to; to increase the strength of; to fortify.
- c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2
- Let noble Warwick, Cobham, and the rest, […]
With powerful policy strengthen themselves.
- Let noble Warwick, Cobham, and the rest, […]
- 1851, Anonymous, Arthur Hamilton, and His Dog
- A little hardship, and a little struggling with the rougher elements of life, will perchance but strengthen and increase his courage, and prepare him for the conflicts and struggles of after years.
- c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2
- (transitive) To empower; to give moral strength to; to encourage; to enhearten.
- 1769, The King James Bible, Deuteronomy iii. 28
- Charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him.
- "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there. […]."
- 1769, The King James Bible, Deuteronomy iii. 28
- (transitive) To augment; to improve; to intensify.
- (transitive) To reinforce, to add to, to support (someone or something)
- (transitive) To substantiate; to corroborate (a belief, argument, etc.)
- (intransitive) To grow strong or stronger.
Synonyms
- (to make strong or stronger): See also Thesaurus:strengthen
- (to augment): See also Thesaurus:augment
Antonyms
- weaken
- atrophy
Derived terms
- strengthener
Translations
References
- strengthen in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
Middle English
Alternative forms
- strenkþen, strengþen, strengþe, strengþi, strengthe, strenght, strenthe, streynght, streynthyn, streyngthe
- (early) strengðden, strengþin, strencþen
Etymology
From strengthe +? -en.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?str?nk??n/, /?str?n?ð?n/
- (dialectal) IPA(key): /?str?n??n/, /?str?i?n??n/
Verb
strengthen
- to strengthen, fortify (increase the strength of)
- 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Job IV:
- Lo! thou hast tau?t ful many men, and thou hast strengthid hondis maad feynt.
- 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Job IV:
- to empower, to augment (increase the potency or severity of)
- to enhearten, to encourage (increase the morale of)
- to assist, to support (someone or something)
- to substantiate; to corroborate (a belief, argument, etc.)
- to approve or validate (a document).
- to endeavour; to rouse oneself.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)
Conjugation
Descendants
- English: strength
References
- “strengthen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
strengthen From the web:
- what strengthens nails
- what strengthens teeth
- what strengthens bones
- what strengthens your immune system
- what strengthens hair
- what strengthens your bones
- what strengthens the immune system
- what strengthened the feudal system
sustain
English
Etymology
From Middle English susteinen, sustenen, from Old French sustenir (French soutenir), from Latin sustine?, sustin?re (“to uphold”), from sub- (“from below, up”) + tene? (“hold”, verb).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /s??ste?n/
- Hyphenation: sus?tain
- Rhymes: -e?n
Verb
sustain (third-person singular simple present sustains, present participle sustaining, simple past and past participle sustained)
- (transitive) To maintain, or keep in existence.
- The professor had trouble sustaining students’ interest until the end of her lectures.
- The city came under sustained attack by enemy forces.
- 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part Two, Chapter 9,[1]
- All the beliefs, habits, tastes, emotions, mental attitudes that characterize our time are really designed to sustain the mystique of the Party and prevent the true nature of present-day society from being perceived.
- (transitive) To provide for or nourish.
- provisions to sustain an army
- 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Nehemiah 9:21,[2]
- Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
- 1937, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana, London: Macmillan, Part 2, p. 59,[3]
- We rode five farsakhs today, sustained by a single bowl of curds and tortured by the wooden saddles.
- (transitive) To encourage or sanction (something). (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
- (transitive) To experience or suffer (an injury, etc.).
- The building sustained major damage in the earthquake.
- c. 1612, William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, Henry VIII, Act III, Scene 2,[4]
- […] if you omit
- The offer of this time, I cannot promise
- But that you shall sustain moe new disgraces,
- With these you bear already.
- 1697, John Dryden (translator), The Aeneid, Book 7, lines 592-593, in The Works of Virgil, London: Jacob Tonson, p. 418,[5]
- Shall Turnus then such endless Toil sustain,
- In fighting Fields, and conquer Towns in vain:
- (transitive) To confirm, prove, or corroborate; to uphold.
- to sustain a charge, an accusation, or a proposition
- 1876, Henry Martyn Robert, Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies, Chicago: Griggs, 1885, Section 61 (e), p. 167,[6]
- After the vote is taken, the Chairman states that the decision of the Chair is sustained, or reversed, as the case may be.
- To keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support.
- A foundation sustains the superstructure; an animal sustains a load; a rope sustains a weight.
- To aid, comfort, or relieve; to vindicate.
- c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act III, Scene 3,[7]
- When I desir’d their leave that I might pity him, they took from me the use of mine own house, charg’d me on pain of perpetual displeasure neither to speak of him, entreat for him, nor any way sustain him.
- 1697, John Dryden (translator), The Aeneid, Book 6, lines 1122-1123, in The Works of Virgil, London: Jacob Tonson, p. 395,[8]
- His Sons, who seek the Tyrant to sustain,
- And long for Arbitrary Lords again,
- c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act III, Scene 3,[7]
Derived terms
- sustainable
- sustainedly
- sustaining
Related terms
Translations
Noun
sustain (plural sustains)
- (music) A mechanism which can be used to hold a note, as the right pedal on a piano.
- 2011, Chuck Eddy, Rock and Roll Always Forgets (page 265)
- To call this music bland is to ignore the down-the-drain vocal fade-aways, the extended sax sustains […]
- 2011, Chuck Eddy, Rock and Roll Always Forgets (page 265)
Anagrams
- issuant
sustain From the web:
- what sustains the planet in place
- what sustainability
- what sustains a fire
- what sustainable means
- what sustains life on earth
- what sustainable energy practices are in place
- what sustains you
- what sustainable development
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