skyscraper

[skahy-skrey-per]

noun

1. a relatively tall building of many stories, especially one for office or commercial use.

2. 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.

skyscraper

/ ˈskaɪˌskreɪpə /

noun

1. a very tall multistorey building

Word History and Origins

Origin of skyscraper¹

First recorded in 1785–95; sky + scraper

Example Sentences

To laud Charles, JPMorgan lit up the top of its new $3 billion Manhattan skyscraper with the insignia of the kingdom, an unusual event in a city that chased out the British in 1783.

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You go to Manchester now and see all these skyscrapers being built and you think 'what are they doing for our local area?', he said.

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“Kwame, you knocked down a skyscraper just an hour ago,” Autumn says.

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The speech was delivered high up in a city skyscraper, with London stretched out below like a model village.

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By far the largest, Neom, envisions a 106-mile-long pair of skyscrapers hosting nine million people, a development where projected costs have far exceeded funding.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• high-rise