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
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a complex or elaborate institution or organization
Related Words
See building.
Other Word Forms
- edificial adjective
- unedificial adjective
Etymology
Origin of edifice
1350–1400; Middle English < Anglo-French, Middle French < Latin aedificium, equivalent to aedific ( āre ) to build ( edify ) + -ium -ium
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.
Most Europeans see trans-Atlanticism as something like an edifice, with a wooden facade built over brick walls sitting on granite foundations.
Thick layers of sediment rich in organic material lie beneath the volcanic edifice.
From Science Daily
“The market was priced for perfection and now the concerns about AI and a pause in Fed rate cutting are spreading cracks through the edifice of perfection,” Wilmington Trust’s Roth said.
Among the most prominent are the British colonial edifices near the riverfront.
The Coast Guard decommissioned the St. George Reef Lighthouse in 1975, replacing the grand edifice with a floating, automated buoy light.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
