structure

n.

1. Something made up of a number of parts that are held or put together in a particular way: hierarchical social structure.
2. The way in which parts are arranged or put together to form a whole; makeup: triangular in structure.
3. The interrelation or arrangement of parts in a complex entity: political structure; plot structure.
4. Something constructed, such as a building.
5. Biology.
   1. The arrangement or formation of the tissues, organs, or other parts of an organism.
   2. An organ or other part of an organism.

tr.v., -tured, -tur·ing, -tures.

To give form or arrangement to: structure a curriculum; structure one's day.

[Middle English, the process of building, from Latin strūctūra, from strūctus, past participle of struere, to construct.]

An arrangement of designed components that provides strength and stiffness to a built artifact such as a building, bridge, dam, automobile, airplane, or missile. The artifact itself is often referred to as a structure, even though its primary function is not to support but, for example, to house people, contain water, or transport goods. See also Airplane; Automobile; Bridge; Buildings; Dam.

The primary requirements for structures are safety, strength, economy, stiffness, durability, robustness, esthetics, and ductility. The safety of the structure is paramount, and it is achieved by adhering to rules of design contained in standards and codes, as well as in exercising strict quality control over all phases of planning, design, and construction. The structure is designed to be strong enough to support loads due to its own weight, to human activity, and to the environment (such as wind, snow, earthquakes, ice, or floods). The ability to support loads during its intended lifetime ensures that the rate of failure is insignificant for practical purposes. The design should provide an economical structure within the constraints of all other requirements. The structure is designed to be stiff so that under everyday conditions of loading and usage it will not deflect or vibrate to an extent that is annoying to the occupants or detrimental to its function. The materials and details of construction have durability, such that the structure will not corrode, deteriorate, or break under the effects of weathering and normal usage during its lifetime. A structure should be robust enough to withstand intentional or unintentional misuse (for example, fire, gas explosion, or collision with a vehicle) without totally collapsing. A structural design takes into consideration the community's esthetic sensibilities. Ductility is necessary to absorb the energy imparted to the structure from dynamic loads such as earthquakes and blasts. See also Construction engineering; Engineering design.

Common structural materials are wood, masonry, steel, reinforced concrete, aluminum, and fiber-reinforced composites. Structures are classified into the categories of frames, plates, and shells, frequently incorporating combinations of these. Frames consist of “stick” members arranged to form the skeleton on which the remainder of the structure is placed. Plated structures include roof and floor slabs, vertical shear walls in a multistory building, or girders in a bridge. Shells are often used as water or gas containers, in roofs of arenas, or in vehicles that transport gases and liquids. The connections between the various elements of a structure are made by bolting, welding or riveting. See also Composite material; Concrete; Steel; Structural materials.

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Any constructed improvement to a site. Structures include buildings; fencing and enclosures; garages; gazebos, greenhouses, and kiosks; and sheds and utility buildings. See also Financial Structure.

Any constructed improvement to a Site.
Example: Structures include:

• buildings

• fencing and enclosures

• garages

• gazebos, greenhouses, and kiosks

• sheds and utility buildings

noun

A usually permanent construction, such as a house or store: building, edifice, pile. See make/unmake.

verb

To create by combining parts or elements: build, compose, configure, form, pattern, shape. See make/unmake.

n

The architectural arrangement of the component parts of a tissue, part, organ, or body. Also the individual components of the body.

The configuration of the rocks of the earth's surface. Structures vary from the small, as in columnar structure, to the large, as in basin and range structure.

1. A combination of units constructed and so interconnected, in an organized way, as to provide rigidity between its elements.
2. Any edifice.

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[Th]

At its most general this refers to the basic framework or form of society. Elements of a physical structure such as an artefact are often associated with function, hence functionalist and structural-functionalist theory treats society as analogous to an organism with each institutional part (religion, economy, etc.) functioning to maintain the whole. Such an approach is related to systems theory, and both have generally received much application in processual archaeology. More particularly, structure refers to the longue durée in Braudel's temporal scheme, the fundamental baseline of a historical period, seen by the earlier Annales historians as essentially geographical or environmental in character. In spite of such refinement of the concept, it is perhaps overworked in the social sciences, ‘structured’ now being used to mean little more than organized, patterned, or non-random.

1. Any institutionalized social arrangement. The governing bodies of various sports can be regarded as structures.

2. The rules that underlie and create the outward features of a society; the social relations that underpin these superficial features.

The form taken by a piece of literature. The structure may be made obvious for ease of understanding, as in nonfiction works, or may obscured for artistic purposes, as in some poetry or seemingly "unstructured" prose. Examples of common literary structures include the plot of a narrative, the acts and scenes of a drama, and such poetic forms as the Shakespearean sonnet and the Pindaric ode.

IN BRIEF: The arrangement of parts in a substance, body, or system.

I don't try to imagine a God; it suffices to stand in awe of the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it. — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Common misspelling(s) of structure

• stucture

Dansk (Danish)
n. - struktur, bygningsmåde, opbygning, bygning
v. tr. - strukturere

Nederlands (Dutch)
structuur, (op)bouw, bouwsel, gebouw, structuur aanbrengen

Français (French)
n. - structure, (Constr) construction, édifice, construction
v. tr. - structurer, organiser, (Constr) construire

Deutsch (German)
n. - Struktur, Aufbau, Konstruktion, Bauwerk
v. - strukturieren

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - δομή, διάρθρωση, κατασκευή, οικοδομή, οικοδόμημα
v. - δομώ, συγκροτώ, διαρθρώνω

Italiano (Italian)
strutturare, struttura

Português (Portuguese)
n. - estrutura (f)
v. - estruturar

Русский (Russian)
структура, здание, строение

Español (Spanish)
n. - estructura, conformación, construcción, relieve
v. tr. - estructurar

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - struktur, byggnad, byggnadsverk, byggnadskomplex
v. - strukturera, ge struktur åt

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
结构, 建筑物, 构造, 建筑, 组织, 构成

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 結構, 建築物, 構造
v. tr. - 建築, 組織, 構成

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 건물, 구조, 기구
v. tr. - 구성하다, 조직화하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 構造, 構成, 組織, 建物, 組織体
v. - 組み立てる

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) بناء, انشاء, هيكل, بنيه (فعل) أنشأ, نظم, بنى, شيد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מבנה, בניין‬
v. tr. - ‮בנה, גיבש‬

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