architecture

American  

[ahr-ki-tek-cher] / ˈɑr kɪˌtɛk tʃər /

noun

• architectures
  plural

1. the profession of designing buildings, open areas, communities, and other artificial constructions and environments, usually with some regard to aesthetic effect. Architecture often includes design or selection of furnishings and decorations, supervision of construction work, and the examination, restoration, or remodeling of existing buildings.

2. the character or style of building.

   the architecture of Paris; Romanesque architecture.

3. the action or process of building; construction.

4. the result or product of architectural work, as a building.

5. buildings collectively.

6. Computers. a fundamental underlying design of computer hardware, software, or both.

7. the structure of anything.

   the architecture of a novel.

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architecture British  

/ ˈɑːkɪˌtɛktʃə /

noun

1. the art and science of designing and superintending the erection of buildings and similar structures

2. a style of building or structure

   Gothic architecture

3. buildings or structures collectively

4. the structure or design of anything

   the architecture of the universe

5. the internal organization of a computer's components with particular reference to the way in which data is transmitted

6. the arrangement of the various devices in a complete computer system or network

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• architectural
  adjective
• architecturally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• architectures
  plural

Etymology

Origin of architecture

First recorded in 1555–65; from Middle French, from Latin architectūra; see architect, -ure

Explanation

Architecture is the process, or profession, of designing buildings and their environments. Architecture also refers to the product of this design and work. The root of the word architecture is the Greek arkhitekton ("master builder"), which makes sense because the ancient Greeks were very skilled at architecture — think of all those columns and stadiums and temples. The Parthenon, which was begun in 447 BC, is one of the greatest examples of architecture from Classical Greece.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

architecture architectures

A system designed to stop machines from rebelling will differ from one designed to hold laboratories responsible for testing practices, network architecture, safeguards, monitoring and intervention.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Instead, it pointed to a form of nanoscale pearling that may be part of the normal architecture of the axons studied.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026

Her work focuses on design, home furnishings, architecture and the look of the way we live—told with a mix of features, trend stories and broader cultural analysis.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

They also provide researchers with a framework for testing which changes in genome architecture might directly contribute to the disease.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026

He carried two shopping bags for Tolkachev, filled with ruble notes, cameras, and special drafting pens and books for Tolkachev's son, an architecture student in Moscow.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau

"Beyond fundamental importance, this discovery can enable novel planar device architectures and sensor types, such as vector magnetometry, via measuring the out-of-plane and in-plane anomalous Hall effect signals in the same device," Singh said.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026

Tan described new memory architectures as one of his “pet projects” and pointed to tighter CPU-memory integration as a key area of focus.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

“Next-generation devices increasingly incorporate new architectures and performance-enhancing layers. As a materials-discovery company, we are well positioned to benefit from these technology transitions,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

The architectures required to make directed-energy systems operational depend on sensor fusion — the real-time integration of radar, electro-optical and infrared data — combined with AI-driven threat classification and engagement prioritization.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026

All living things on our planet are constructed of organic molecules—complex microscopic architectures in which the car- bon atom plays a central role.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Related Words

• building
• construction
• engineering
• planning