MEANING
Supported by facts or good reasons rather than by unsupported belief.
Use it for
acknowledging that a concern has a reasonable basis; distinguishing supported criticism from mere suspicion; describing an interpretation grounded in relevant evidenceAffirms that a judgment has adequate grounds without treating support as a guarantee of truth. Academic functions: Evidence, Argumentation, Qualification / Uncertainty.
Words that belong together
- well-founded concern
- well-founded criticism
- well-founded argument
On the page
The reviewer accepts the well-founded criticism of the sampling procedure while rejecting the broader allegation of misconduct.
The interpretation is well-founded in the correspondence, although later evidence could still require revision.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- well-founded
Usage notes
Hyphenated adjective: well-founded concern, well-founded argument. The dictionary also records well founded. Use better founded or more firmly grounded when a comparison is needed. Register: formal. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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