Meaning & use

supportive

adjective·Everyday

Providing encouragement, help, or emotional strength to someone.

See it in a sentence

Her family was incredibly supportive while she trained for the marathon.

A supportive manager can make a huge difference during a stressful project.

A note on using this word

Supportive usually describes people or environments; 'supported' instead describes something being physically or financially held up.

Words with a similar meaning

encouragingcaringhelpful

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

unsupportivediscouraging

Make it your own

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