Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Edifice

Ed′i-fice

,
Noun.
[L.
aedificium
, fr.
aedificare
: cf. F.
édifice
. See
Edify
.]
A building; a structure; an architectural fabric; – chiefly applied to elegant houses, and other large buildings;
as, a palace, a church, a statehouse
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Edifice

ED'IFICE

,
Noun.
[L. oedificium. See Edify.] A building; a structure; a fabric; but appropriately, a large or splendid building. The word is not applied to a mean building, but to temples,churches or elegant mansion-houses, and to other great structures.

Definition 2024


edifice

edifice

See also: édifice

English

Alternative forms

Noun

edifice (plural edifices)

  1. A building; a structure; an architectural fabric, especially an imposing one; a large or fine building, public or private.
  2. An abstract structure; a school of thought.
    • 1904, Edward S. Holden, “Copernicus”, in Popular science monthly, volume 65, page 117:
      The real difficulty was moral, not intellectual. Was the whole edifice of Ptolemy to be destroyed?

Related terms

Translations

References

  • edifice in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • edifice in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913