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phrase structure

American  

noun

Linguistics.

  1. the hierarchical arrangement of the constituent words and phrases of a sentence.

Etymology

Origin of phrase structure

First recorded in 1955–60

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.

These two principles, simplicity and continuity, apply concretely to sentence and phrase structure as well.

From Project Gutenberg

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.