cantilever
Americannoun
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any rigid structural member projecting from a vertical support, especially one in which the projection is great in relation to the depth, so that the upper part is in tension and the lower part in compression.
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Building Trades, Civil Engineering. any rigid construction extending horizontally well beyond its vertical support, used as a structural element of a bridge cantilever bridge, building foundation, etc.
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Aeronautics. a form of wing construction in which no external bracing is used.
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Architecture. a bracket for supporting a balcony, cornice, etc.
verb (used without object)
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cantilevers,
present (3rd person singular)
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cantilevered,
past participle, past
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cantilevering
present participle
verb (used with object)
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cantilevers,
present (3rd person singular)
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cantilevered,
past participle, past
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cantilevering
present participle
noun
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a beam, girder, or structural framework that is fixed at one end and is free at the other
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( as modifier )
a cantilever wing
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a wing or tailplane of an aircraft that has no external bracing or support
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a part of a beam or a structure projecting outwards beyond its support
verb
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(tr) to construct (a building member, beam, etc) so that it is fixed at one end only
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(intr) to project like a cantilever
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cantileversimple
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cantileverssimple
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have cantileveredperfect
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has cantileveredperfect
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am cantileveringprogressive
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are cantileveringprogressive
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is cantileveringprogressive
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have been cantileveringperfect progressive
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has been cantileveringperfect progressive
Past
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cantileveredsimple
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had cantileveredperfect
-
was cantileveringprogressive
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were cantileveringprogressive
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had been cantileveringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cantilever
Explanation
A cantilever is a girder or beam that supports a bridge or another large structure. Cantilevers are attached only at one end, like a rigid diving board. Structures that stick out sideways from a vertical support are cantilevers (hold your arm straight out from your body and it becomes a kind of cantilever). Engineers construct bridges using cantilevers, balancing them with counterweights or reinforcing them with girders and trusses. Cantilever bridges were originally called cantlapper bridges—from cant, or "slope," eventually combined with lever, from the Latin levare, "to raise."
Vocabulary lists containing cantilever
Built To Last: Architectural Parlance
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Civil Engineering
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Structural Engineering
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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.
See Examples For:
Over the next 70 years, nearly 50 giant cantilever cranes were built worldwide, with about half of them involving companies based in or near Glasgow.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026
When the cantilever is placed on one of the nanoparticles, a current is passed through its tip to measure the conductivity.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 12, 2024
Columns sway back and forth, like a cantilever swing, creating ample space for large groups to walk through.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
“I would have to push up on my arm, straighten my knees and then cantilever up,” he continued.
From New York Times ● Oct. 30, 2022
Each of the first two of these traveling gantries used was equipped with a belt conveyor working on a cantilever arm, as shown by Figs.
From Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 The Bergen Hill Tunnels. Paper No. 1154 by F. Lavis
Filled with surprising patios, alleys and landings, it’s one of his forays into postmodernism: brightly colored buildings contain, among other features, gabled brick rooflines, extra-bulky columns, long cantilevers and cylindrical steel elevators.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2025
Rapidly-sinking rays streaming through the gaps of the cantilevers onto the pitch.
From BBC ● Apr. 19, 2024
Where the top level extends cantilevers out to create a covered porch, it is supported by a pair of tree trunks that Austin’s builder, Kaplan Homes, found washed up on the beach.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 7, 2024
Saarinen’s concrete structure, with its soaring, winglike vaulted roof, its huge fields of glass, and its thrilling interior curves, cantilevers and airy mezzanines, is one of the great buildings of the past century.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 12, 2019
The broader base helps to prevent the bridge see-sawing when a heavy train goes over it, and it is further assisted by the landward ends of the other two cantilevers being heavily loaded.
From Chatterbox, 1906 by J. Erskine (John Erskine) Clarke
Its essence was its array of cantilevered terraces, set at right angles to one another and projecting deep out into space.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Just after sundown, I arrived at the 602-room Fairmont Monte Carlo, cantilevered over the Mediterranean for superb sea views.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 10, 2026
His striking home was perched above the boulevard, its wood and glass cantilevered over a concrete base.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2025
As the sun set on a cloudy evening in Times Square on Friday, a 65-foot-long frankfurter cantilevered into the sky and spewed out a blast of rainbow confetti.
From New York Times ● May 7, 2024
You are looking at the only cantilevered structure of its kind on earth.
From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd
Atop it was her sewing machine, jars of buttons, a wooden box that unfolded, cantilevering out to reveal spools of thread.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 3, 2021
Museum and designer retreated from the idea of cantilevering a wing over the principal tar pool.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 29, 2019
“Now we’re cantilevering the stairs from top to bottom.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 15, 2011
He was creative from the time he was cantilevering building blocks.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 10, 2011
It's a taxidermist's dream, with massive forelegs and a rack that should need cantilevering.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
