Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The art and science of designing and erecting buildings.
  • noun Buildings and other large structures.
  • noun A style and method of design and construction.
  • noun Orderly arrangement of parts; structure.
  • noun Computers The overall design or structure of a computer system or microprocessor, including the hardware or software required to run it.
  • noun Any of various disciplines concerned with the design or organization of complex systems.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To construct; build.
  • noun The art of building, specifically of fine or beautiful building.
  • noun The buildings or other objects produced by architecture as defined above.
  • noun The character or style of building: as, the architecture of Paris.
  • noun Construction and formative design of any kind.
  • noun The design of the strictly architectural buildings in such pleasure-grounds (pavilions, casinos, terrace walls, parapets, perrons, and pedestals for statues).
  • noun that of the time of Herod Agrippa (37–44 a. d.), under whom the system of design was Roman, with, only such modification as was common in the cities of Syria.
  • noun Architecture in which the work is cast in a solid mass (as in pisé, or rammed clay), in recent times by means of artificial stone.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The art or science of building; especially, the art of building houses, churches, bridges, and other structures, for the purposes of civil life; -- often called civil architecture.
  • noun Construction, in a more general sense; frame or structure; workmanship.
  • noun the art of fortifications.
  • noun the art of building ships.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The art and science of designing buildings and other structures.
  • noun The profession of an architect.
  • noun Any particular style of building design.
  • noun A unifying structure.
  • noun computing A specific model of a microchip or CPU.
  • noun The structure and design of a system or product.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (computer science) the structure and organization of a computer's hardware or system software
  • noun the discipline dealing with the principles of design and construction and ornamentation of fine buildings
  • noun the profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their esthetic effect
  • noun an architectural product or work

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin architectūra, from architectus, architect; see architect.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French, from Latin architectūra

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