underpinnings


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un·der·pin·ning

 (ŭn′dər-pĭn′ĭng)
n.
1. Material or masonry used to support a structure, such as a wall.
2. often underpinnings A support or foundation: "It was the towns, not the cities, that provided the underpinnings for the great American experiment" (Frank Conroy).
3. underpinnings Informal The human legs.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

underpinnings

(ˈʌndəˌpɪnɪŋz)
pl n
any supporting structure or system
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
References in classic literature ?
It had the usual country- schoolhouse form--belonged to the packing-box order of architecture; had an underpinning of stones, a moss-grown roof, and blank window spaces, whence both glass and sash had long departed.
He lays his own dead corpse beneath the underpinning, as one may say, and hangs his frowning picture on the wall, and, after thus converting himself into an evil destiny, expects his remotest great-grandchildren to be happy there.
The new company is to create innovative medicines to address neurodegenerative diseases by targeting the epigenetic underpinnings of neurodegeneration.
The vehicle is to share its underpinnings with the A1, although it is not clear if the underpinnings will be the current A1's PQ25 platform or a next-generation, MQB-derived design.
The findings shed light on normal development and on the genetic underpinnings of common cancers.
In an interview with Bloomberg, he said, 'The underpinnings of the single currency, the underpinnings of the integrated economy across Europe are very, very strong.
The present paper explains the most frequently used reliability estimate, coefficient alpha, so that the coefficient's conceptual underpinnings will be understood.
He was the author of 'The Age of Reason'; 'Common Sense'; and 'The Rights of Man', three of the most important treatises to provide the philosophical underpinnings to America's colonial struggle for emancipation from a dominate and dominating England.
"Kabbalah, Science And The Meaning of Life" demonstrates how by understanding the underpinnings of life, we can influence and affect the realities of life around us.
With "Advancing In Tae Kwon Do", Chun draws upon his more than fifty years of experience and expertise to introduce martial arts students to the history, philosophy, and meditation underpinnings of Taw Kwon Do, then goes on to provide profusely illustrated instructions on Tae Kwon Do hand and foot techniques, sparring techniques, self-defense techniques, breaking techniques, the nine Black Belt forms required for promotion by the World Taekwondo Federation and internationally sanctioned Taekwondo competitions, as well as the rules and regulations of the World Taekwondo Federation--including sparring and Poomsae (form) competitions.
Joe Comartin (Windsor-Tecumseh, ON) tied his position in what he sees as the very underpinnings of Christian tradition.