structure
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈstɹʌk(t)ʃə(ɹ)/
ipa: [ˈstɹɐk(t)ʃə(ɹ)]
ipa: /ˈstɹʌkt͡ʃɚ/
ipa: [ˈstʃɹɐktʃə]
Forms: form: structures
Etymology: From Middle French structure, from Latin structūra (“a fitting together, adjustment, building, erection, a building, edifice, structure”), from struere, past participle structus (“pile up, arrange, assemble, build”). Compare construct, instruct, destroy, etc.
Senses: examples: text: The birds had built an amazing structure out of sticks and various discarded items.
text: The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
synonyms: formation
glosses: A cohesive whole built up of distinct parts.
examples: text: He studied the structure of her face.
synonyms: formation
glosses: The underlying shape of a solid.
examples: text: The structure of a sentence.
text: The structure of the society was still a mystery.
text: Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.
ref: 2012 March 24, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2013, page 106:
synonyms: word: makeup
word: configuration
word: arrangement
word: composition
word: configuration
word: constitution
word: form
word: makeup
word: structure
glosses: The overall form or organization of something.
examples: text: For some, the structure of school life was oppressive.
glosses: A set of rules defining behaviour.
examples: text: This structure contains both date and timezone information.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Several pieces of data treated as a unit.
examples: text: There's lots of structure to be fished along the west shore of the lake; the impoundment submerged a town there when it was built.
topics: fishing
hobbies
lifestyle
glosses: Underwater terrain or objects (such as a dead tree or a submerged car) that tend to attract fish
examples: text: The South African leader went off to consult with the structures.
glosses: A body, such as a political party, with a cohesive purpose or outlook.
topics: human-sciences
logic
mathematics
philosophy
sciences
glosses: A set along with a collection of finitary functions and relations.
Derived terms: accessory gonadal structure
aerostructure
algebraic structure
antistructure
apostructure
ball-and-pillow structure
bandstructure
band structure
biostructure
bone structure
capital structure
chemical structure
control structure
costructure
cyberstructure
cytostructure
data structure
deep structure
destructure
differential structure
dramatic structure
echostructure
eigenstructure
endostructure
exostructure
fine structure
fine-structure constant
fine structure constant
flame structure
geostructure
glycostructure
heterostructure
histostructure
homostructure
hyperfine structure
hyperstructure
infostructure
isostructure
Lewis structure
magnetostructure
mathematical structure
mega-structure
megastructure
mega structure
mesostructure
metastructure
metrical structure
metric structure
misstructure
monostructural
morphostructure
nanostructure
narrative structure
neurostructure
nonstructure
organizational breakdown structure
overstructure
paleostructure
periodic structure
phrase structure
play structure
power structure
prestructure
primary structure
product breakdown structure
protostructure
quantized electronic structure
quaternary structure
secondary structure
stereostructure
structome
structronics
structurable
structure-activity relationship
structureless
structurely
structure sheaf
structurist
structurization
structurize
structurome
suprastructure
surface structure
technostructure
tertiary structure
ultrastructure
understructure
vestigial structure
Weaire-Phelan structure