Meaning of Mainstay | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A chief support.
2. Someone or something that can be depended on to make a regular contribution.
3. A stabilising rope from high on the mainmast to the base of the foremast.

Equivalents

Examples

“Agriculture is the mainstay of this country’s economy.”

“At the other extreme, we have that true maid-of-all-work type, the 0-6-0, the mainstay of goods, shunting, and often of passenger work right from the earliest days to the present time.”

“As with most other railways, freight revenue is the mainstay of the balance sheet. In Canada, passenger revenue is only about one-tenth that of freight.”

“Oil is the mainstay of Nigeria's economy.”

“Conventional radiography has a major role in, and remains the mainstay of, initial evaluation and follow-up of rheumatologic disease.”

“On the Bishops Stortford line, the crisis now seems to be over; the units designed for this service are the mainstay of the workings once again and although some of the inner suburban sets are still seen, very few L.T.S. Line units are noticeable.”

“Afternoon TV mainstays like Leila Benitez and Bobby Ledesma of Darigold Jamboree gradually gave way to teenage loveteams Vi and Bot and Guy and Pip who had legions of fans watching their shows and movies and listening to their records.”

“Like show dogs, dog actors became a mainstay in European and American contexts from the early nineteenth century with the convergence of public sentiment for dogs and popular interest in training them.”

“Crickets are a mainstay of panfishing with live bait—and a mainstay of bait shops—but they come off the hook easily and you'll be plagued by minnows and tiny fish constantly stealing your bait.”

“X-Men: Apocalypse, directed by series mainstay Bryan Singer, gives Magneto, the Holocaust survivor who can control magnetic fields, and Xavier, the paraplegic telepath who tends to come off as really smug, next-to-zero shared screen time.”

“Lauren Hemp, making her 50th appearance for the Lionesses, was preferred in central attack over mainstay Russo, while Chelsea centre-back Jess Carter was the chosen replacement for injured club team-mate Millie Bright.”

“I expected the open-air markets, but defrosted bouillabaisse and canned ratatouille weren’t what I imagined to be staples of Parisian culinary life. Yet they’ve become mainstays.”

CEFR level