abutment
Americannoun
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Architecture, Civil Engineering.
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a masonry mass supporting and receiving the thrust of part of an arch or vault.
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a force that serves to abut an arch or vault.
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a mass, as of masonry, receiving the arch, beam, truss, etc., at each end of a bridge.
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a mass or structure for resisting the pressure of water on a bridge, pier, or the like.
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each of the parts of a canyon or the like receiving the thrusts of an arch dam.
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a structure for absorbing tensions from reinforcing strands for concrete being prestressed.
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the place where projecting parts meet; junction.
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Dentistry. a tooth or tooth root that supports or stabilizes a bridge, denture, or other prosthetic appliance.
noun
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the state or process of abutting
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something that abuts
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the thing on which something abuts
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the point of junction between them
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architect civil engineering a construction that takes the thrust of an arch or vault or supports the end of a bridge
Etymology
Origin of abutment
Vocabulary lists containing abutment
Civil Engineering
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Engineering - High School
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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.
“When you’re plowing the road you need to know where the bridge abutment is and where the expansion joints are so you don’t hook that with a plow,” LaBoe said.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 10, 2021
In 2020, a 16-inch city water main burst at a bridge abutment over I-40 and dumped roughly 500,000 gallons on the freeway, a main freight route from California ports.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2021
There was a stone abutment retaining wall with rocks on the other side and the ocean below.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2021
Two women were killed and six others were injured early Sunday after a boat they were in struck a concrete abutment off the Francis Scott Key Bridge near Baltimore, authorities said.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 26, 2015
Putting the jesses, leash, and ring in my belt pouch, I follow Tenmile Creek to the bridge and climb the abutment.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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.
