skyscraper

American  

[skahy-skray-per] / ˈskaɪˌskreɪ pər /

noun

• skyscrapers
  plural

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.

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skyscraper British  

/ ˈskaɪˌskreɪpə /

noun

1. a very tall multistorey building

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• skyscrapers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of skyscraper

First recorded in 1785–95; sky + scraper

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

skyscraper skyscrapers

The skyscraper, opened in New York nearly 100 years ago, will see its Art Deco crown polished and restored during a refurbishment that will also involve the restoration of the building's 77-storey façade.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

The complex fills a city block in the financial district with an office skyscraper, the high-rise Sheraton Grand hotel and a shopping center that is home to a Uniqlo and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

In 2012, it cut the ribbon on a $750 million, 50-story skyscraper to house employees.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

A dangerously nondurable kind of concrete was used for a recently built skyscraper that is already crumbling from the inside.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

It was the only reservation skyscraper, you know?

From "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie

Looking up from the ground floor gives you a true sense of the scale of the behemoth orbiter, boosters and tank, which shoot up like skyscrapers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026

The goal is to enable it to compete with the more modern skyscrapers in the city.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

He says he felt like an ant walking into the huge facility on his first day in prison; the guard towers reminded him of skyscrapers.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Rows of eerily vacant skyscrapers loom over quiet streets.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

From here, the skyscrapers look like toy blocks propped up in the lowlands between hills.

From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day

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