structure
Americannoun
-
mode of building, construction, or organization; arrangement of parts, elements, or constituents.
a pyramidal structure.
- Synonyms:
- configuration, form, system
-
something built or constructed, as a building, bridge, or dam.
-
a complex system considered from the point of view of the whole rather than of any single part.
the structure of modern science.
-
anything composed of parts arranged together in some way; an organization.
-
the relationship or organization of the component parts of a work of art or literature.
the structure of a poem.
-
Biology. mode of organization; construction and arrangement of tissues, parts, or organs.
-
Geology.
-
the attitude of a bed or stratum or of beds or strata of sedimentary rocks, as indicated by the dip and strike.
-
the coarser composition of a rock, as contrasted with its texture.
-
-
Chemistry. the manner in which atoms in a molecule are joined to each other, especially in organic chemistry where molecular arrangement is represented by a diagram or model.
-
Sociology. social structure.
-
the pattern of organization of a language as a whole or of arrangements of linguistic units, as phonemes, morphemes or tagmemes, within larger units.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a complex construction or entity
-
the arrangement and interrelationship of parts in a construction, such as a building
-
the manner of construction or organization
the structure of society
-
biology morphology; form
-
chem the arrangement of atoms in a molecule of a chemical compound
the structure of benzene
-
geology the way in which a mineral, rock, rock mass or stratum, etc, is made up of its component parts
-
rare the act of constructing
verb
Related Words
See building.
Other Word Forms
- destructure verb (used with object)
- interstructure noun
- nonstructure noun
- prestructure verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of structure
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin structūra, equivalent to struct(us) (past participle of struere “to put together”) + -ūra noun suffix; -ure
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Modern sponges contain skeletons made of countless microscopic, glass-like structures called spicules.
From Science Daily
This structure tightens like a drawstring, squeezing the cell into two daughter cells.
From Science Daily
He was asked by liana Bouzali, Morgan Stanley’s global head of derivatives, distribution and structuring, how he would construct a hedge-fund portfolio from scratch today.
From MarketWatch
DHS pulled into its structure several preexisting agencies, such as the Coast Guard, which continued to perform their traditional missions.
From Salon
“The existing first sale program is heavily vetted, structured and enforced,” the group said.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
