skyscraper
Americannoun
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a relatively tall building of many stories, especially one for office or commercial use.
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Architecture. a building of exceptional height completely supported by a framework, as of girders, from which the walls are suspended, as opposed to a building supported by load-bearing walls.
noun
Etymology
Origin of skyscraper
Explanation
A skyscraper is a very tall building, like New York City's Empire State Building, which held the title of "World's Tallest Building" for many years. You're most likely to see a skyscraper in a large city like New York or Hong Kong. You can spot the tourists in these cities because they are often gazing up at the tops of the skyscrapers. The designation of a building as a skyscraper was originally an Americanism, but the earliest recorded use of skyscraper was for a triangular sail set topmost on a square-rigged ship, and at other times in the past the word was used to designate a very tall man and a high-flying bird, among other things.
Vocabulary lists containing skyscraper
September Words
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Towers Falling
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for October 30–November 5, 2021
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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.
Yet other than Chen, none of the alleged kingpins sanctioned by the U.S., including skyscraper developer Xu Aimin, have been publicly charged or arrested.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026
A gaping 75-mile-wide trench now sits where a massive horizontal skyscraper called the Line was to be developed at Neom.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 18, 2026
Rock climber Alex Honnold, a California native, has ascended the Taipei 101 skyscraper without any ropes or protective equipment.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
The county is gradually moving workers into the 55-story skyscraper at the base of Bunker Hill that was widely considered one of the city’s most desirable office buildings when it was completed in 1991.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
No one knows who coined the term, but it fit, and the Montauk became the first building to be called a skyscraper.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
