EDIFICE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does edifice mean? 

• EDIFICE (noun)
  The noun EDIFICE has 1 sense:

1. a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place

  Familiarity information: EDIFICE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EDIFICE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

building; edifice

Context example:

it was an imposing edifice

Hypernyms ("edifice" is a kind of...):

construction; structure (a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts)

Meronyms (parts of "edifice"):

staircase; stairway (a way of access (upward and downward) consisting of a set of steps)

annex; annexe; extension; wing (an addition that extends a main building)

crawl space; crawlspace (low space beneath a floor of a building; gives workers access to wiring or plumbing)

window (a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air)

antechamber; anteroom; entrance hall; foyer; hall; lobby; vestibule (a large entrance or reception room or area)

wall (an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure)

upstairs (the part of a building above the ground floor)

corner; quoin ((architecture) solid exterior angle of a building; especially one formed by a cornerstone)

corner; nook (an interior angle formed by two meeting walls)

cornerstone (a stone at the outer corner of two intersecting masonry walls)

cornerstone (a stone in the exterior of a large and important building; usually carved with a date and laid with appropriate ceremonies)

court; courtyard (an area wholly or partly surrounded by walls or buildings)

cullis (a gutter in a roof)

interior door (a door that closes off rooms within a building)

elevator; lift (lifting device consisting of a platform or cage that is raised and lowered mechanically in a vertical shaft in order to move people from one floor to another in a building)

frame; skeletal frame; skeleton; underframe (the internal supporting structure that gives an artifact its shape)

exterior door; outside door (a doorway that allows entrance to or exit from a building)

floor; level; storey; story (a structure consisting of a room or set of rooms at a single position along a vertical scale)

shaft (a vertical passageway through a building (as for an elevator))

foundation stone (a stone laid at a ceremony to mark the founding of a new building)

scantling; stud (an upright in house framing)

heat; heating; heating plant; heating system (utility to warm a building)

room (an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling)

roof (a protective covering that covers or forms the top of a building)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "edifice"):

Roman building (a building constructed by the ancient Romans)

ministry (building where the business of a government ministry is transacted)

dead room; morgue; mortuary (a building (or room) where dead bodies are kept before burial or cremation)

observatory (a building designed and equipped to observe astronomical phenomena)

office block; office building (a building containing offices where work is done)

opium den (a building where opium is sold and used)

outbuilding (a building that is subordinate to and separate from a main building)

packinghouse (a building where foodstuffs are processed and packed)

house of God; house of prayer; house of worship; place of worship (any building where congregations gather for prayer)

planetarium (a building housing an instrument for projecting the positions of the planets onto a domed ceiling)

presbytery (building reserved for the officiating clergy)

eatery; eating house; eating place; restaurant (a building where people go to eat)

rest house (a building used for shelter by travelers (especially in areas where there are no hotels))

rink; skating rink (building that contains a surface for ice skating or roller skating)

apartment building; apartment house (a building that is divided into apartments)

rotunda (a building having a circular plan and a dome)

ruin (a ruined building)

school; schoolhouse (a building where young people receive education)

shooting gallery (a building (usually abandoned) where drug addicts buy and use heroin)

signal box; signal tower (a building from which signals are sent to control the movements of railway trains)

skyscraper (a very tall building with many stories)

student union (a building on a college campus dedicated to social and organizational activities of the student body)

tap house; tavern (a building with a bar that is licensed to sell alcoholic drinks)

telco building; telecom hotel (a building that houses telecommunications equipment)

temple (an edifice devoted to special or exalted purposes)

house; theater; theatre (a building where theatrical performances or motion-picture shows can be presented)

bagnio; bawdyhouse; bordello; brothel; cathouse; house of ill repute; house of prostitution; sporting house; whorehouse (a building where prostitutes are available)

library (a building that houses a collection of books and other materials)

abattoir; butchery; shambles; slaughterhouse (a building where animals are butchered)

architecture (an architectural product or work)

aviary; bird sanctuary; volary (a building where birds are kept)

bathhouse; bathing machine (a building containing dressing rooms for bathers)

bowling alley (a building that contains several alleys for bowling)

center; centre (a building dedicated to a particular activity)

chapterhouse (a building attached to a monastery or cathedral; used as a meeting place for the chapter)

club; clubhouse (a building that is occupied by a social club)

dorm; dormitory; hall; residence hall; student residence (a college or university building containing living quarters for students)

farm building (a building on a farm)

feedlot (a building where livestock are fattened for market)

firetrap (a building that would be hard to escape from if it were to catch fire)

gambling den; gambling hell; gambling house; gaming house (a public building in which a variety of games of chance can be played (operated as a business))

gazebo; summerhouse (a small roofed building affording shade and rest)

government building (a building that houses a branch of government)

glasshouse; greenhouse (a building with glass walls and roof; for the cultivation and exhibition of plants under controlled conditions)

hall (a large building for meetings or entertainment)

hall (a large building used by a college or university for teaching or research)

Hall of Fame (a building containing trophies honoring famous people)

hotel (a building where travelers can pay for lodging and meals and other services)

casino-hotel; hotel-casino (a building that houses both a hotel and a casino)

house (a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families)

house (a building in which something is sheltered or located)

health facility; healthcare facility; medical building (building where medicine is practiced)

Instance hyponyms:

Independence Hall (the building in Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence was signed)

Houses of Parliament (the building in which the House of Commons and the House of Lords meet)

 Context examples 

As he watched her go, the Nietzschean edifice seemed to shake and totter.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Her passion for ancient edifices was next in degree to her passion for Henry Tilney—and castles and abbeys made usually the charm of those reveries which his image did not fill.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

In this edifice it was determined I should lodge.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

At half-past twelve we found ourselves upon the steps of Mrs. Warren’s house—a high, thin, yellow-brick edifice in Great Orme Street, a narrow thoroughfare at the northeast side of the British Museum.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But there was no vacancy for a tenor in the venerable Pile for which this city is so justly eminent; and he has—in short, he has contracted a habit of singing in public-houses, rather than in sacred edifices.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The household at the Abbey Grange were much surprised at our return, but Sherlock Holmes, finding that Stanley Hopkins had gone off to report to headquarters, took possession of the dining-room, locked the door upon the inside, and devoted himself for two hours to one of those minute and laborious investigations which form the solid basis on which his brilliant edifices of deduction were reared.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

On the other hand, the delight of exploring an edifice like Udolpho, as her fancy represented Blaize Castle to be, was such a counterpoise of good as might console her for almost anything.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

He was appalled at the vast edifice of etiquette, and lost himself in the mazes of visiting-card conduct between persons in polite society.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The king’s palace is no regular edifice, but a heap of buildings, about seven miles round: the chief rooms are generally two hundred and forty feet high, and broad and long in proportion.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

You have laid a foundation that any edifice may be raised upon; and is it not a pity that you should devote the spring-time of your life to such a poor pursuit as I can offer?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)