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)
-
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:
Giant cantilever cranes date from the beginning of the 20th Century, when Scotland led the world in shipbuilding and engineering.
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
She points out the ways in which the river’s embankments could be reimagined: with garden-covered steps or with a cantilever boardwalk.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2022
The counterweight is a depressed cantilever arm 12 ft. long, overlapped by the fixed platform which sinks into a recess in the masonry when the bridge opens.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" by Various
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
Architecturally, Rotterdam contains some serious mishaps: enormous harlequin-print facades in assaulting primary colors; ponderous glass cantilevers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2018
Every detail of the lower parts was clear and distinct as an architectural drawing, the intricate lattice-work of enormous cantilevers and girders seemed etched on the inside of a great opal bowl.
From The City in the Clouds by C. Ranger Gull
Glazed-earthenware cylinders with rounded tops support hefty forms on their sides that seem to be invisibly cantilevered from the central mass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
In this manner, the cantilevered base of the building need not carry any load beyond the first eight stories, a solution that would make the base lighter and cheaper.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
Network Rail previously worked with Shard developers Sellar on a £1.5bn scheme that proposed to partially demolish the Victorian station and build a new multi-storey tower cantilevered above a neighbouring Grade II* listed former hotel.
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2025
The 4,142-square-foot cantilevered post-and-beam structure, nestled in a woodsy hillside with canyon and coastline views, went on the market for $12 million in April.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2025
You are looking at the only cantilevered structure of its kind on earth.
From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd
That could include tunneling, cantilevering lanes or other ideas the private sector might suggest to limit Beltway widening, he said.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2019
Museum and designer retreated from the idea of cantilevering a wing over the principal tar pool.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 29, 2019
“His body is cantilevering, but he’s fortunate at one point to get his left foot on the ground to brace against the momentum of the football striking his hand.”
From New York Times ● Nov. 24, 2014
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.
