Architecture definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

View all »
Definitions (48)

American Heritage Dictionary (5)

noun The art and science of designing and erecting buildings.
noun Buildings and other large structures: the low, brick-and-adobe architecture of the Southwest.
noun A style and method of design and construction: Byzantine architecture.

2 more from this dictionary »

Century Dictionary (38)

The art of building, specifically of fine or beautiful building. Architecture includes, in the widest sense. (1) the principles of design and of ornament as applied to building; (2) the science of construction, including the properties of materials and the methods of combining them; and (3) the practice of construction, including estimates of cost and the directing of builders and workmen. The practice of this art requires skill in design, which is the special province of the architect, and skill in execution, which is the special province of the workmen whom the architect employs and directs. It is the function of skill in architectural design to combine in a harmonious scheme the independent and often hostile requirements (1) of use and convenience as dictated by the conditions of the problem in hand; (2) of constructive necessity and fitness as determined either by practical experience or by scientific theory; and (3) of artistic excellence both in the proportions of the parts and in the decorative treatment of details, in accordance with either the general principles and canons of good taste or the prescriptions of custom or tradition. It is the function of skill in execution practically to carry out the scheme so designed; and this skill is exercised by draftsmen, surveyors, mechanics, artisans, and artists, each in his place. Architecture is properly distinguished from mere building by the presence of the decorative or artistic element. The most important styles in the history of architecture are the Egyptian, Assyrian, Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine, Medieval (including Romanesque and Pointed), Renaissance, and Arabic. (See these and other adjectives characterizing architectural styles.) The various later medieval styles are commonly included under the vague and misleading term Gothic (which see). Architecture, the art of building, includes two elements, theory and practice. The former comprehends the fineart side proper, the body of general rules inspired by taste and based on tradition, and the science, which admits of demonstration by means of invariable and absolute formulas. Practice is the application of theory to particular needs; it is practice which causes the art and the science to conform to the nature of materials, to climate, to the customs of a period, or to the necessities of the occasion. Viollet-le-Duc, Dict. de l'Architecture (trans.), I. 116. We must consider Architecture as the great law which has in all time regulated the growth and affected the form of painting and sculpture, till they attain to a certain period in their development, and free themselves from its influence. C. T. Newton, Art and Archæol., p. 29. Architecture and eloquence are mixed arts, whose end is sometimes beauty and sometimes use. Emerson.
The buildings or other objects produced by architecture as defined above.
The character or style of building: as, the architecture of Paris.

35 more from this dictionary »

GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

WordNet (4)

Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

They walked into a large dormitory, newer than the church, though the architecture was the same — stained glass, arches, flowery carvings. — Manhattan Is My Beat
This architecture was the first flowering of the Gothic race; they had no Homers; the flame found vent not by imaged words and vitalized alphabets; they vitalized stone, and their poets were minster builders; their epics, cathedrals. — Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands V2
The central piece of the architecture is the common layer that we call, — LXer Linux News
Loved Italy but did not like Venice on the ground (it has the Venetian people), they seemed only interested in the tourist dollar … that being said the architecture was awesome and these pictures are a very cool look of the city since I arrived with family by train! — doggdot.us
The best place to get a quick overview of the architecture is here - the comic book. — Republic Of Internets

More examples »

architecture

View all »
Definitions (48)

American Heritage Dictionary (5)

Century Dictionary (38)

GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

WordNet (4)

Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

Tags

Stats

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word »
Related

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context

Etymologies (3)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Century Dictionary (2)

Pronunciations
Record your own »

Charts

Recently looked up

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

architecture

View all » Definitions (48)

View all » Examples (50)

Tags

Stats

stop updating On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word » Related

synonyms:

Etymologies (3)

Pronunciations Record your own »

Charts

Recently looked up

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

View all »
Definitions (48)

View all »
Examples (50)

stop updating
On Twitter

Add a related word »
Related

Pronunciations
Record your own »