Meanings
plural edifices · alternative archaic ædifice
- A building; a structure; an architectural fabric, especially a large and spectacular one.
- An abstract structure, such as a school of thought, an argument, a theoretical position, etc.
With a great thump on the table, Poirot demolished his carefully built up edifice.
1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 1651 more example
The real difficulty was moral, not intellectual. Was the whole edifice of Ptolemy to be destroyed?
1904, Edward S. Holden, “Copernicus”, in Popular science monthly, volume 65, page 117
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinaedificium“building”
- Old Frenchedifice
- Middle Englishedifice
- Englishedifice
From Middle English edifice, from Old French edifice, a classical borrowing of Latin aedificium (“building”), derived from aedificāre (“to build, establish”) (whence also English edify).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic بِنَاء, مَبْنَى
- بِنَاء (bināʔ)building
- مَبْنَى (mabnā)building
- بِنَايَة (bināya)building
- مَدْرَسَة (madrasa)school of thought
Bulgarian зда́ние
- зда́ние (zdánie)building
Chinese Mandarin 大廈 /大厦, 建築物 /建筑物
- 大廈 /大厦 (dàshà)building
- 建築物 /建筑物 (jiànzhùwù)building
- 學派 /学派 (xuépài)school of thought
- 學說 /学说 (xuéshuō)school of thought
- 制度 (zhìdù)school of thought
Czech budova, stavba
- budovabuilding
- stavbabuilding
Dutch bouwwerk, gebouw
- bouwwerkbuilding
- gebouwbuilding
- constructieschool of thought
- denkkaderschool of thought
Esperanto konstruaĵo
- konstruaĵobuilding
Finnish rakennelma, ajatusrakennelma
- rakennelmabuilding
- ajatusrakennelmaschool of thought
French édifice, édifice
- édificebuilding
- édificeschool of thought
- école de penséeschool of thought
German Bauwerk, Gebäude
- Bauwerkbuilding
- Gebäudebuilding
- Lehrgebäudeschool of thought
- Gedankengebäudeschool of thought
Greek κτήριο
- κτήριο (ktírio)building
Hebrew בניין
- בניין (binyán)building
Hindi इमारत, भवन
- इमारत (imārat)building
- भवन (bhavan)building
Hungarian építmény, iskola
- építménybuilding
- iskolaschool of thought
Icelandic bygging, hús
- byggingbuilding
- húsbuilding
Indonesian bangunan megah, gedung megah
- bangunan megahbuilding
- gedung megahbuilding
- kerangka pemikiranschool of thought
- tatanan pemikiranschool of thought
Italian edificio
- edificiobuilding
Japanese 建築物
- 建築物 (kenchikubutsu)building
Latin aedificium
- aedificiumbuilding
Norwegian byggverk
- byggverkbuilding
Polish gmach
- gmachbuilding
Portuguese edifício, prédio
- edifíciobuilding
- prédiobuilding
- escolaschool of thought
Romanian edificiu, edificiu
- edificiubuilding
- edificiuschool of thought
- școală de gândireschool of thought
Russian зда́ние, доктри́на
- зда́ние (zdánije)building
- доктри́на (doktrína)school of thought
Spanish edificio
- edificiobuilding
Swahili jengo
- jengobuilding
Swedish byggnadsverk, bygge
- byggnadsverkbuilding
- byggebuilding
- konstruktionbuilding
- tankedoktrinschool of thought
Tagalog edipisyo, gusali
- edipisyobuilding
- gusalibuilding
Tamil கட்டடம்
- கட்டடம் (kaṭṭaṭam)building
Thai สิ่งปลูกสร้าง
- สิ่งปลูกสร้างbuilding
Ukrainian буді́вля
- буді́вля (budívlja)building
Cite this entry
edifice. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/edifice
“edifice.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/edifice. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “edifice,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/edifice.
Source: edifice on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.