What's the difference between undergird and undermine?

Undergird


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To blind below; to gird round the bottom.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The standards undergirding a suspicious activity report are defined as: " Observed behavior reasonably indicative of preoperational planning related to terrorism or other criminal activity ."
  • (2) A critical review of the literature undergirding these programs reveals wide gaps in knowledge about the relative efficacy of a variety of alternative strategies.
  • (3) Its intention is to show cosmetic surgeons some of the implicit and explicit philosophical principles and potential arguments undergirding their potential surgical evaluations.
  • (4) A portion of this core support has undergirded resources and research activities at Cayo Santiago.
  • (5) Perhaps for similar reasons our national literature has often been uneasy, if not outright resistant to the substratum of comic writing that has always undergirded it.
  • (6) A recent study from Lee Drutman at the New America Foundation finds that very few Americans at all – Republican or Democratic – support the kind of rightwing economic policies that undergird Trumpcare.
  • (7) Nursing knowledge of these strategies and the theoretical bases undergirding them has only begun to develop.
  • (8) Putting Tubman’s face on the fiscal system which undergirds the likes of Aetna (and its hundreds of millions in annual profits ) would be dismaying.
  • (9) The NSA initially claimed it could not find any record of Snowden electing to notify officials about his concerns on bulk surveillance after " extensive investigation " but in May released an email Snowden sent to the NSA general counsel's office inquiring about the legal hierarchy undergirding of surveillance practices.
  • (10) In a joint letter, 51 serving diplomats wrote: “None of us sees merit in a large-scale US invasion of Syria… But we do see merit in a more militarily assertive US role… based on the judicious use of standoff and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and hardnosed US-led diplomatic process.” Military force, reasoned the frustrated officials, could “enforce the cessation of hostilities”.
  • (11) Senator Brandis, are you aware of, and have you or your office evaluated, any of the proposals for serious law reform put to President Obama in the case of indiscriminate surveillance by the NSA, and does the attorney believe that any of those proposals could be relevant here in Australia?” Brandis said he had studied Obama’s remarks carefully and Australian governments of both political persuasions were “always alert to ensure that the statutory framework which undergirds and provides for the accountability mechanism of our intelligence agencies is as appropriate and relevant as possible”.
  • (12) It is concluded that philosophy undergirds psychiatric nosology, while psychiatric nosology raises a series of philosophical questions.
  • (13) Anyone engaged in developing community health nursing theory would do well to consider which ideologic model is undergirding the process.
  • (14) Business is undergirded by “wasta”, the Arabic for connections.
  • (15) In their book, The Perspectives of Psychiatry, Paul R. McHugh and Phillip R. Slavney propose four basic perspectives to undergird and inform the practice of psychiatry.
  • (16) The article raises questions about the relationship between UNOS and the federal government, about potential conflicts between UNOS guidelines and state laws under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, and about the ideological stance undergirding much of current federal policy in the organ transplantation arena.
  • (17) This article examines aspects of social work in health care from a philosophy of science perspective, which suggests different ways of conceptualizing and defining variables ranging from service recipients to principles undergirding social work intervention.
  • (18) A foreign policy which works closely with the US when it is undergirding regional peace and stability, but is willing and equipped to break from it when it is not.
  • (19) Ethics research explores the basic moral norms undergirding nursing research, practice, and education.
  • (20) Next on the list is reason: the attack on climate science is, in fact, an attack on science itself, on the enterprise that undergirds modernity.

Undermine


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To excavate the earth beneath, or the part of, especially for the purpose of causing to fall or be overthrown; to form a mine under; to sap; as, to undermine a wall.
  • (v. t.) Fig.: To remove the foundation or support of by clandestine means; to ruin in an underhand way; as, to undermine reputation; to undermine the constitution of the state.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Their efforts will include blocking the NSA from undermining encryption and barring other law enforcement agencies from collecting US data in bulk.
  • (2) And any Labour commitment on spending is fatally undermined by their deficit amnesia.” Davey widened the attack on the Tories, following a public row this week between Clegg and Theresa May over the “snooper’s charter”, by accusing his cabinet colleague Eric Pickles of coming close to abusing his powers by blocking new onshore developments against the wishes of some local councils.
  • (3) Chadwick felt that Customs and Trading Standards needed to continue their war on illegal tobacco – if not, efforts to tackle smoking could be undermined.
  • (4) But for decades now there has been a systematic undermining of it [the NHS’s] core values.
  • (5) The government also faced considerable international political pressure, with the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture, Juan Méndez, calling publicly on the government to "provide full redress to the victims, including fair and adequate compensation", and writing privately to David Cameron, along with two former special rapporteurs, to warn that the government's position was undermining its moral authority across the world.
  • (6) Like the doctor who makes a decision to operate without consulting the patient, I’m diminishing your autonomy by undermining it.
  • (7) There, the US Joint Commission, an independent, non-profit organisation that accredits healthcare organisations and programmes has issued a standard on “behaviours that undermine a culture of safety” to tackle “intimidating and disruptive behaviour at work”.
  • (8) Group B meningococcal vaccine consisting of the natural complex of specific polysaccharide and outer membrane protein (OMP) has been shown to be moderately reactogenic, safe with respect to the effect of undermining tolerance to human brain tissue antigens and to produce no allergization of humans.
  • (9) The end of the cold war and a reshaping of the threats faced by the UK had undermined the logic of nuclear deterrence strategy, he said.
  • (10) Then Greece has another chance.” But the intervention by the IMF will undermine EU leaders who argue Greece must submit to a fresh round of austerity measures to release funds for debt repayments.
  • (11) Entitled Jobs, Justice and Equity, the report warned that growing inequality, marginalisation and disenfranchisement are threatening Africa's prospects and undermining the foundations of its recent success.
  • (12) Umunna said: "Where you have pay awards that bear no relation to performance, but also can be beyond what a company can sustain, it really undermines trust in the whole system.
  • (13) The home team's defence had been undermined by naivety and it was in evidence when Stepanov, already on a yellow card for a foul on McGeady and having been played into trouble, lunged for the ball only to be beaten to it by Keane.
  • (14) The home secretary has been concerned that British involvement in the UN refugee programme would become an open-ended commitment that risked undermining the Tories' commitment to reduce net migration to the UK to tens of thousands by 2015.
  • (15) The Public Accounts committee (PAC) said on Thursday that the "chaos" surrounding the failure of G4S to provide enough staff for the Olympics had undermined confidence in Games organisers.
  • (16) Moreover, uncertainty about the resolution of these fiscal issues could itself undermine business and household confidence," said Bernanke.
  • (17) The clashes between the moralistic Levin and his friend Oblonsky, sometimes affectionate, sometimes angry, and Levin's linkage of modernity to Oblonsky's attitudes – that social mores are to be worked around and subordinated to pleasure, that families are base camps for off-base nooky – undermine one possible reading of Anna Karenina , in which Anna is a martyr in the struggle for the modern sexual freedoms that we take for granted, taken down by the hypocritical conservative elite to which she, her lover and her husband belong.
  • (18) James Cleverly, MP for Braintree, who supported Johnson’s aborted leadership bid before backing May, said joking about him risked undermining the foreign secretary.
  • (19) These effects of governmental restrictions on abortion do indeed interfere with the obstetrician's basic goal of providing optimal care for the patient and undermine their efforts to improve maternal and infant health.
  • (20) Poor crossing undermined Liverpool in the first leg, Klopp had claimed, but the flaw was remedied quickly in the return.