underpinning

Noun

underpinning (plural underpinnings)

1. A support or foundation, especially as a structure of masonry that supports a wall.
   • This house's underpinning is not up to standard.
   • Released were two singles that went nowhere fast; the third, "Early Morning Love" (#68, 1974), was a teasing male fantasy with a folkie feel and countrified pedal-steel guitar underpinnings.1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 319
2. (figuratively) A basis for something.
   • I would like to know more about the underpinning of this political theory.
   • Other eras have had their epicureans or hedonists, of course, who lived and sometimes died for the ideal of simplicity or pleasure in an epic kind of way. But today’s gazillion-strong influencer community has zero intellectual underpinning to it, which is why it’s so often the unwitting butt of its...2025 April 3, Marina Hyde, “It’s With Love, Meghan – not just a TV show but a landmark piece of art. And not in a good way”, in The Guardian
3. (figuratively, humorous) The lower body or legs.
   • Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC