structural

[ struhk-cher-uhl ]

/ ˈstrʌk tʃər əl /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for structural on Thesaurus.com

adjective

of or relating to structure; relating or essential to a structure.

resulting from or relating to political or economic structure: structural reforms to the social safety net;structural inequalities;structural racism.

Biology. relating to organic structure; morphological.

Geology. of or relating to geological structure, as of rock or strata.

Chemistry. relating to or showing the arrangement or mode of attachment of the atoms that constitute a molecule of a substance.Compare structural formula.

of, relating to, or based on the assumption that the elements of a field of study are naturally arranged in a systematic structure: structural grammar.

noun

Building Trades.

a part of a structure that carries a load.
the structural member used for such a part.

QUIZ

QUIZ YOURSELF ON "WAS" VS. "WERE"!

Were you ready for a quiz on this topic? Well, here it is! See how well you can differentiate between the uses of "was" vs. "were" in this quiz.

Question 1 of 7

“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.

true

false

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of structural

First recorded in 1825–35; structure + -al¹

OTHER WORDS FROM structural

struc·tur·al·ly, adverbnon·struc·tur·al, adjectivenon·struc·tur·al·ly, adverbun·struc·tur·al, adjective

un·struc·tur·al·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use structural in a sentence

The Justice Department lawsuit hinted at possibly tougher measures, should the government win its case, asking the court to consider “structural relief,” which theoretically could include a requirement that the company sell a portion of its business.
Europe fined Google nearly $10 billion for antitrust violations, but little has changed|Jeanne Whalen|November 10, 2020|Washington Post
He hailed Tesla’s structural battery as a “revolution” in engineering—but for some battery researchers, Musk’s future looked a lot like the past.
Carmakers want to ditch battery packs, use auto bodies for energy storage|WIRED|November 8, 2020|Ars Technica
A “structural change to the balance of office and home working” featured strongly in customers’ buying decisions, it said.
New Yorkers and Londoners are fleeing to the suburbs, and that’s spurring a rally in these stocks|Bernhard Warner|November 3, 2020|Fortune
The DOJ in Google’s case has called for “structural relief,” among other things.
DOJ antitrust suit: Google uses contracts, market power to neutralize rivals|Greg Sterling|October 21, 2020|Search Engine Land

Rather, it is asking for “structural relief as needed to cure any anticompetitive harm.”
The DOJ says Google monopolizes search. Here’s how.|Eileen Guo|October 20, 2020|MIT Technology Review
The masterpiece is huge, but structurally flawed and terribly vulnerable to seismic activity.
Florence Preps ‘David’ for the Big One|Barbie Latza Nadeau|December 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Let Me Be Frank With You is also structurally different from earlier Bascombe novels.
Richard Ford’s Artful Survivalist Guide: The Return of Frank Bascombe|Tom LeClair|November 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The jet is “redlined” at Mach 2, but structurally it can reach a maximum speed of Mach 2.25.
Exclusive Pictures of Stealth Jet Raid on Syria|Dave Majumdar|September 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Ms Zhang said the church had been illegally built and was structurally unsound.
Christians Form Human Shield Around Church in China's 'Jerusalem'|The Telegraph|April 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Black PrinceBy Iris Murdoch This is my favourite novel of all time and is structurally extremely (and successfully) ambitious.
The Most Unreliable Narrators, From Agatha Christie to Iris Murdoch|Sophie Hannah|April 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was pulled down some years ago, when it was condemned as being structurally unsafe.
The Rivers of Great Britain: Rivers of the East Coast|Various
The Athabaskan languages form as clearly unified, as structurally specialized, a group as any that I know of.
Language|Edward Sapir
Natural selection acts by suppressing, or developing, structurally distributed colour.
Colouration in Animals and Plants|Alfred Tylor
An oil lamp hung from the tiny pent-house roof that, structurally, was Trehenna Station.
A Christmas Mystery|William J. Locke
Ants are undoubtedly the highest, structurally and mechanically, of all insects, and at the same time the most efficient.
Book of Monsters|David Fairchild and Marian Hubbard (Bell) Fairchild

British Dictionary definitions for structural

structural

/ (ˈstrʌktʃərəl) /

adjective

of, relating to, or having structure or a structure

of, relating to, or forming part of the structure of a building

of or relating to the structure and deformation of rocks and other features of the earth's crust

of or relating to the structure of organisms; morphological

chem of, concerned with, caused by, or involving the arrangement of atoms in molecules

Derived forms of structural

structurally, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

structural

Origin of structural

OTHER WORDS FROM structural

Words related to structural

How to use structural in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for structural

Derived forms of structural