Meanings
plural houses of cards
- A structure made by stacking playing cards in a pyramidal fashion.
- attributivebroadlyoftenAny structure with alternating vertical and horizontal layers.
Dolmens impress only by their massiveness: their house-of-cards construction is the simplest possible […]
1977, Lionel Casson, Joseph Jacobs Thorndike, Mysteries of the past, page 492 more examples
The essentials of megalithic construction are either the single large slab or the large slab as walling stone with another large slab resting on two or more large walling stones as a capstone—a sort of house of cards architecture.
1958, Glyn Edmund Daniel, The Megalith Builders of Western Europe, page 18Also, it has been proposed that lithium ions can be adsorbed on both sides of the graphene sheets that are aggregated disorderly into a “house of cards” architecture, leading to two layers of lithium for each graphene sheet […]
2017, Markus Antonietti, Klaus Müllen, Chemical Synthesis and Applications of Graphene and Carbon Materials - figurativelyidiomaticA structure, argument, or arrangement that is inherently flimsy or fragile and thus might collapse if any adversity were to come along and challenge it.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna speculative scheme that depends on unstable factors that the planner cannot control
nounan unstable construction with playing cards
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Arabic بَيْت مِنْ وَرَق
- بَيْت مِنْ وَرَق (bayt min waraq)structure made by stacking playing cards
Bulgarian къ́ща от ка́рти
- къ́ща от ка́рти (kắšta ot kárti)structure made by stacking playing cards
Catalan castell de cartes, castell de cartes
- castell de cartesstructure made by stacking playing cards
- castell de cartesstructure or argument built on a shaky foundation
Chinese Mandarin 紙牌屋 /纸牌屋, 撲克牌建築 /扑克牌建筑
- 紙牌屋 /纸牌屋 (zhǐpái wū)structure made by stacking playing cards
- 撲克牌建築 /扑克牌建筑 (pūkèpái jiànzhù)structure made by stacking playing cards
- 卡家 (kǎjiā)structure or argument built on a shaky foundation
Czech domeček z karet
- domeček z karetstructure made by stacking playing cards
Danish korthus, korthus
- korthusstructure made by stacking playing cards
- korthusstructure or argument built on a shaky foundation
Dutch kaartenhuis, kaartenhuis
- kaartenhuisstructure made by stacking playing cards
- kaartenhuisstructure or argument built on a shaky foundation
Estonian kaardimaja
- kaardimajastructure made by stacking playing cards
Finnish korttitalo, korttitalo
- korttitalostructure made by stacking playing cards
- korttitalostructure or argument built on a shaky foundation
French château de cartes, château de cartes
- château de cartesstructure made by stacking playing cards
- château de cartesstructure or argument built on a shaky foundation
German Kartenhaus, Kartenhaus
- Kartenhausstructure made by stacking playing cards
- Kartenhausstructure or argument built on a shaky foundation
Greek σπίτι από τραπουλόχαρτα
- σπίτι από τραπουλόχαρτα (spíti apó trapoulócharta)structure made by stacking playing cards
Hungarian kártyavár
- kártyavárstructure made by stacking playing cards
Icelandic spilaborg
- spilaborgstructure made by stacking playing cards
Italian castello di carte, castello di carte
- castello di cartestructure made by stacking playing cards
- castello di cartestructure or argument built on a shaky foundation
Japanese トランプタワー
- トランプタワー (toranpu tawā)structure made by stacking playing cards
Korean 카드의 집, 사상누각
- 카드의 집 (kadeu-ui jip)structure made by stacking playing cards
- 사상누각 (sasangnugak)structure or argument built on a shaky foundation
Malay binaan daun terup
- binaan daun terupstructure made by stacking playing cards
Norwegian Bokmål korthus
- korthusstructure made by stacking playing cards
Polish domek z kart, domek z kart
- domek z kartstructure made by stacking playing cards
- domek z kartstructure or argument built on a shaky foundation
Portuguese castelo de cartas, castelo de cartas
- castelo de cartasstructure made by stacking playing cards
- castelo de cartasstructure or argument built on a shaky foundation
Russian ка́рточный до́мик, ка́рточный до́мик
- ка́рточный до́мик (kártočnyj dómik)structure made by stacking playing cards
- ка́рточный до́мик (kártočnyj dómik)structure or argument built on a shaky foundation
Slovak domček z kariet
- domček z karietstructure made by stacking playing cards
Spanish castillo de naipes, castillo de naipes
- castillo de naipesstructure made by stacking playing cards
- castillo de naipesstructure or argument built on a shaky foundation
Swedish korthus
- korthusstructure made by stacking playing cards
Ukrainian карткови́й буди́нок, картко́вий буди́нок
- карткови́й буди́нок (kartkovýj budýnok)structure made by stacking playing cards
- картко́вий буди́нок (kartkóvyj budýnok)structure made by stacking playing cards
- карткови́й буди́ночок (kartkovýj budýnočok)structure made by stacking playing cards
- картко́вий буди́ночок (kartkóvyj budýnočok)structure made by stacking playing cards
- карткови́й буди́нок (kartkovýj budýnok)structure or argument built on a shaky foundation
- картко́вий буди́нок (kartkóvyj budýnok)structure or argument built on a shaky foundation
- карткови́й буди́ночок (kartkovýj budýnočok)structure or argument built on a shaky foundation
- картко́вий буди́ночок (kartkóvyj budýnočok)structure or argument built on a shaky foundation
Cite this entry
house of cards. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/house%20of%20cards
“house of cards.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/house%20of%20cards. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “house of cards,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/house%20of%20cards.
Source: house of cards on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.