I. ˈstrəkchə(r), -ksh- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin structura, from structus (past participle of struere to pile up, arrange, build) + -ura -ure; akin to Latin strues heap, sternere to spread out, throw down — more at strew
1. : the action of building : construction
2.
a. : something constructed or built
a laboratory housed in a temporary wooden structure
the dam is a massive structure
demolish any building, highway, road, railroad, excavation, or other structure — T.W.Arnold
a structure of posts or stakes across a stream — F.W.Bradley
structures experimented with …: oxygen-pressure suits, oxygen-pressure balloon gondolas and pressure cabin airplanes — H.G.Armstrong
all vegetable fibrous structures felted from a water suspension on a wire screen — Paper & Paperboard
especially : a building of imposing size : edifice
the civic auditorium … is the city's most important public structure — American Guide Series: Michigan
b. : something made up of more or less interdependent elements or parts : something having a definite or fixed pattern of organization
leaves and other complex plant structures
a glandular structure at the base of the brain
light provided by a fluorescent structure
collapse the delicate, incomplete structure of agreement — Kenneth Love
the Nazi structure of falsified facts and perverted history — Alfred Frankfurter
any object which is in some sense an organized whole is said to have, or to be characterized by, structure — W.C.Clement
the political and institutional structure of the Commonwealth has been built, and continues to develop, round this living core of tradition and culture — H.D.Hall
events, or material objects, whose mutual spatial relationships are regarded as constant, constitute a structure — L.A.White
3. : the manner of construction : the way in which the parts of something are put together or organized : form , makeup
a rambling country house, basically Gothic in plan, structure , and mass — H.S.Morrison
structure means the ways in which the stars are organized into clusters and other multiple systems — G.W.Gray b. 1886
primitive societies are … pretty rigid and uniform in structure — J.D.Adams
the structure of a novel
4. : the arrangement of particles or parts in a substance or body
the structure of soil
the structure of a plant
the structure of an animal
as
a. : the arrangement and mode of union of the atoms in a molecule — compare constitution 4
b. : the attitude and relative positions of rock masses consequent upon deformative processes (as folding, faulting, and igneous intrusion)
an anticlinal structure
a basin-and-range structure
an alpine structure
c. : the arrangement of a rock mass with respect to the larger features (as jointing, columnar and platy parting, bedding) — compare texture
5. : the interrelation of parts as dominated by the general character of the whole
economic structure
financial structure
personality structure
political structure
symphonic structure
tax structure
— see social structure
6. : the elements or parts of an entity or the position of such elements or parts in their external relationships to each other: as
a.
(1) : the components of a language (as phonemes, morphemes) and the way in which they are related — compare phonemics , morphophonemics , morphology , syntax
(2) : the finite system of such components and their relations
b.
(1) : the composition of conscious experience with its elements and their combinations
(2) : gestalt
(3) : the anatomical basis of behavior consisting especially of nerve and muscle tissue
7. : the element that is common to all true interpretations of a logical or mathematical calculus
II. verb
( structured ; structured ; structuring -kchər, -ksh(ə)r+ -ing ; structures )
transitive verb
1. : to form into an organized structure : build , organize
the author has structured his book as a simple chronology — E.B.Pettet
this book succeeds in structuring an admirable vantage point — J.G.Brin
the male in the old-style mammal was largely structured for aggressive competition — Weston La Barre
the way in which our collegiate education is structured — E.A.Walker
as
a.
(1) : structuralize
(2) : to put into a meaningful frame of reference
a theory to structure empirical research
the part of television in structuring public events
b. : to establish the relationship between components of: as
(1) : to define the psychological relationships in
structure a situation
structure the perceptual field
(2) : to formalize the role of (as a psychotherapist or a patient)
(3) : to set up the rules or the agenda to be followed in (as an interview or a test) with respect to interpersonal conduct
2. : to assign (a linguistic element) to a function or a relation within a system
intransitive verb
: to function or become related — used of a linguistic element