buttress

buttress up an argument

authority was buttressed by religious belief.

She buttressed her argument with solid facts.

a buttress supporting the church wall

there was a demand for a new stable order as a buttress against social collapse.

The book is packed with anecdotes to buttress their view that she is a likeable Everywoman.

Leaf buttress A leaf primordium, appearing as a protuberance on the side of the stem apex, produced by periclinal division of the tunica and corpus, and associated with a procambium.