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.
Thick layers of sediment rich in organic material lie beneath the volcanic edifice.
From Science Daily • Nov. 26, 2025
I took a seat beneath Singapore’s second-oldest edifice, Caldwell House, built in 1841 for a clerk to the magistrates, and in Anglo spirit, ordered fish and chips with an ale.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 27, 2025
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 • Oct. 26, 2025
The weakness in the grand edifice of American constitutionalism is that it depends on the determination, in every generation, of those in positions of authority to uphold it.
From Slate • Jan. 29, 2025
Every day the remarkable edifice served as a monument to her profound change in circumstances.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
