- use as a basis for

- found on
"base a claim on some observation"

- establish the validity of something, as by an example, explanation or experiment
"The experiment demonstrated the instability of the compound"
"The mathematician showed the validity of the conjecture"

- institute, enact, or establish
"make laws"

- place
"Her manager had set her up at the Ritz"

- set up or lay the groundwork for
"establish a new department"

- bring about
"The trompe l''oeil-illusion establishes depth"

- build or establish something abstract
"build a reputation"

- set up or found
"She set up a literacy program"

1. To make stable or firm; to fix immovably or firmly; to set (a thing) in a place and make it stable there; to settle; to confirm.

"So were the churches established in the faith." -- Acts xvi. 5.

"The best established tempers can scarcely forbear being borne down." -- Burke.

"Confidence which must precede union could be established only by consummate prudence and self- control." -- Bancroft.

2. To appoint or constitute for permanence, as officers, laws, regulations, etc.; to enact; to ordain.

"By the consent of all, we were established The people's magistrates." -- Shak.

"Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed." -- Dan. vi. 8.

3. To originate and secure the permanent existence of; to found; to institute; to create and regulate; -- said of a colony, a state, or other institutions.

"He hath established it [the earth], he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited." -- Is. xlv. 18.

"Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity!" -- Hab. ii. 12.

4. To secure public recognition in favor of; to prove and cause to be accepted as true; as, to establish a fact, usage, principle, opinion, doctrine, etc.

"At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established." -- Deut. xix. 15.

5. To set up in business; to place advantageously in a fixed condition; -- used reflexively; as, he established himself in a place; the enemy established themselves in the citadel.