Buttress vs. Reinforce: What's the Difference?

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

To give more force or effectiveness to; strengthen

The flared base of certain tree trunks.

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

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

To strengthen by adding extra support or material.

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

To increase the number or amount of; augment.

To support or reinforce with a buttress.

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

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

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

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

(transitive) To strengthen, especially by addition or augmentation.

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

(transitive) To emphasize or review.

(botany) A buttress-root.

(transitive) To encourage (a behavior or idea) through repeated stimulus.

(climbing) A feature jutting prominently out from a mountain or rock.

Make stronger;

(figurative) Anything that supports or strengthens.

Strengthen and support with rewards;

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

To support something or someone by supplying evidence.

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

Anything which supports or strengthens.

To support with a buttress; to prop; to brace firmly.

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

Reinforce with a buttress;

Make stronger or defensible;