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Buttress vs. Reinforce: What's the Difference?

Buttress and Reinforce Definitions

Buttress

A structure, usually brick or stone, built against a wall for support or reinforcement.

Reinforce

To give more force or effectiveness to; strengthen
The news reinforced her hopes.

Buttress

The flared base of certain tree trunks.

Reinforce

To strengthen (a military force) with additional personnel or equipment.

Buttress

A horny growth on the heel of a horse's hoof.
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Reinforce

To strengthen by adding extra support or material.

Buttress

Something that serves to support, prop, or reinforce:"The law is by its very nature a buttress of the status quo"(J. William Fulbright).

Reinforce

To increase the number or amount of; augment.

Buttress

To support or reinforce with a buttress.

Reinforce

To reward (an experimental subject, for example) with a reinforcer subsequent to a desired response or performance.
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Buttress

To sustain, prop, or bolster:"The author buttresses her analysis with lengthy dissections of several of Moore's poems"(Warren Woessner).

Reinforce

To encourage (a response) by means of a reinforcer.

Buttress

(architecture) A brick or stone structure built against another structure to support it.
Flying buttress

Reinforce

(transitive) To strengthen, especially by addition or augmentation.
He reinforced the handle with a metal rod and a bit of tape.

Buttress

(by extension) Anything that serves to support something; a prop.
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Reinforce

(transitive) To emphasize or review.
The right homework will reinforce and complement the lesson!

Buttress

(botany) A buttress-root.

Reinforce

(transitive) To encourage (a behavior or idea) through repeated stimulus.
Advertising for fast food can reinforce unhealthy dietary tendencies.

Buttress

(climbing) A feature jutting prominently out from a mountain or rock.
Crowell Buttresses, Dismal Buttress

Reinforce

Make stronger;
He reinforced the concrete

Buttress

(figurative) Anything that supports or strengthens.

Reinforce

Strengthen and support with rewards;
Let's reinforce good behavior

Buttress

To support something physically with, or as if with, a prop or buttress.

Buttress

To support something or someone by supplying evidence.

Buttress

A projecting mass of masonry, used for resisting the thrust of an arch, or for ornament and symmetry.

Buttress

Anything which supports or strengthens.

Buttress

To support with a buttress; to prop; to brace firmly.
To set it upright again, and to prop and buttress it up for duration.

Buttress

A support usually of stone or brick; supports the wall of a building

Buttress

Reinforce with a buttress;
Buttress the church

Buttress

Make stronger or defensible;
Buttress your thesis

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