edifice
Americannoun
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a building, especially one of large size or imposing appearance.
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any large, complex system or organization.
noun
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a building, esp a large or imposing one
-
a complex or elaborate institution or organization
Synonym Usage
See building.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of edifice
1350–1400; Middle English < Anglo-French, Middle French < Latin aedificium, equivalent to aedific ( āre ) to build ( see edify) + -ium -ium
Explanation
Edifice means a building, but it doesn't mean just any building. To merit being called an edifice, a building must be important. A small but elegant temple can be an edifice, and so can a towering sky scraper. The meaning of edifice has expanded to include a system of ideas — when it is complicated enough to be considered to have walls and a roof, then it is an edifice. You could say that basic facts of addition and subtraction are the foundation on which the edifice of higher math rests.
Vocabulary lists containing edifice
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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.
In 2021, he established a new business, Edifice Upstate, which, according to its website, develops “affordable, ecologically sustainable” homes.
From New York Times • Apr. 21, 2022
At some point thereafter the auditorium hosted a dinner theater called the Edifice, while several businesses took up quarters in the front of building, including an ice cream parlor and a travel agency.
From Washington Times • Feb. 21, 2021
“It’s like a movie set,” said Michael Buckley, a principal in Edifice Real Estate Partners, which is serving as the owner’s representative for Liberty Theatres in the redevelopment.
From New York Times • Jul. 4, 2016
Mr. McNairy had just returned from European trade shows and was headed to Japan for another collaboration, with Edifice.
From New York Times • Mar. 12, 2014
The huge bell in the tower of the Council Edifice began to ring.
From "Gathering Blue" by Lois Lowry
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.
