Origin of the word structure

cohesive whole built up of distinct parts

underlying shape of a solid

overall form or organization of something

fishing: underwater terrain or objects

body, such as a political party, with a cohesive purpose or outlook

Translations to be checked

(transitive) to give structure to; to arrange

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.

A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The verb is the part of the sentence that is conjugated and expresses action and state of being.

See the conjugation of the verb structure in English.

Structure

Structure is a fundamental, tangible or intangible notion referring to the recognition, observation, nature, and permanence of patterns and relationships of entities. This notion may itself be an object, such as a built structure, or an attribute, such as the structure of society. From a child’s verbal description of a snowflake, to the detailed scientific analysis of the properties of magnetic fields, the concept of structure is now often an essential foundation of nearly every mode of inquiry and discovery in science, philosophy, and art. In early 20th-century and earlier thought, form often plays a role comparable to that of structure in contemporary thought. The neo-Kantianism of Ernst Cassirer is sometimes regarded as a precursor of the later shift to structuralism and poststructuralism. The description of structure implicitly offers an account of what a system is made of: a configuration of items, a collection of inter-related components or services. A structure may be a hierarchy, a network featuring many-to-many links, or a lattice featuring connections between components that are neighbors in space.

Present

I structure

you structure

he/she/it structures

we structure

you structure

they structure

Present continuous

I am structuring

you are structuring

he/she/it is structuring

we are structuring

you are structuring

they are structuring

Present perfect

I have structured

you have structured

he/she/it has structured

we have structured

you have structured

they have structured

Present perfect continuous

I have been structuring

you have been structuring

he/she/it has been structuring

we have been structuring

you have been structuring

they have been structuring

Present tense is used to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time or over a period that includes the present time. The present perfect refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves.

Past

I structured

you structured

he/she/it structured

we structured

you structured

they structured

Past continuous

I was structuring

you were structuring

he/she/it was structuring

we were structuring

you were structuring

they were structuring

Past perfect

I had structured

you had structured

he/she/it had structured

we had structured

you had structured

they had structured

Past perfect continuous

I had been structuring

you had been structuring

he/she/it had been structuring

we had been structuring

you had been structuring

they had been structuring

Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past,

Future

I will structure

you will structure

he/she/it will structure

we will structure

you will structure

they will structure

Future continuous

I will be structuring

you will be structuring

he/she/it will be structuring

we will be structuring

you will be structuring

they will be structuring

Future perfect

I will have structured

you will have structured

he/she/it will have structured

we will have structured

you will have structured

they will have structured

Future perfect continuous

I will have been structuring

you will have been structuring

he/she/it will have been structuring

we will have been structuring

you will have been structuring

they will have been structuring

The future is used to express circumstances that will occur at a later time.

Conditional

I would structure

you would structure

he/she/it would structure

we would structure

you would structure

they would structure

Conditional continuous

I would be structuring

you would be structuring

he/she/it would be structuring

we would be structuring

you would be structuring

they would be structuring

Conditional perfect

I would have structure

you would have structure

he/she/it would have structure

we would have structure

you would have structure

they would have structure

Conditional perfect continuous

I would have been structuring

you would have been structuring

he/she/it would have been structuring

we would have been structuring

you would have been structuring

they would have been structuring

Conditional or «future-in-the-past» tense refers to hypothetical or possible actions.

Imperative

you structure
we let´s structure
you structure

The imperative is used to form commands or requests.

Past participle

structured

Present Participle

structuring

Infinitive shows the action beyond temporal perspective. The present participle or gerund shows the action during the session. The past participle shows the action after completion.

The translations of structure from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «structure» in English.

The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «structure» in the different countries.

List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «structure».

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «structure» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «structure» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

After the comedy boom of the ’80s, there was a certain formula that comedians had to do and could do in order to be successful touring comedians, and those were mainly observational comedians who had a very strict structure of what made an act, and I think it was very performance oriented.

I hope it’s always going to be a mix between theatre, film and radio. I’ve been very lucky living in London that you can do all that — in New York and L.A., there’s more of a structure for film in L.A. and theatre in New York. In London, our industry is smaller, but it produces brilliant work all in one place.

Al-Qa’ida does not follow a traditional command structure, wear uniforms, carry its arms openly, or mass its troops at the borders of the nations it attacks. Nonetheless, it possesses the demonstrated capability to strike with little notice and cause significant civilian or military casualties.

Classifying the stars has helped materially in all studies of the structure of the universe.

The present structure of rewards in high schools produces a response on the part of an adolescent social system which effectively impedes the process of education.

There is a cost that comes with moving schools so often and it’s not what I want for my son when he gets older, but it did make me very adaptable. I became aware of what was missing from the social structure of each class that I arrived in, and made sure to fill that gap.

The business of Hollywood, if you don’t have other things going on, it will eat you up and spit you out… If you take what those people and that social structure think of you — if you let it govern your life — you might as well just kill yourself.

There are people who look at the rules and find ways to structure around them. The more complex the rules, the more opportunities.

One of the main reasons I wanted to work on ‘World War Z’ was because I’m a huge fan of the book, and I love the idea of taking a non-linear story and creating a three-act structure out of it.

It is not systematic education which somehow molds society, but, on the contrary, society which, according to its particular structure, shapes education in relation to the ends and interests of those who control the power in that society.

1

Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the …

Investigates the changing strategy and structure of the large industrial enterprise in the United States

2

Write Great Fiction — Plot & Structure

Award-winning author James Scott Bell offers clear, concise information that will help you create a believable and memorable plot, including: Techniques for crafting strong beginnings, middles, and ends Easy-to-understand plotting diagrams …

3

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: 50th Anniversary …

Newly designed, with an expanded index, this edition will be eagerly welcomed by the next generation of readers seeking to understand the history of our perspectives on science.

4

The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law

This book takes a fresh look at the most dynamic area of American law today, comprising the fields of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secrecy, publicity rights, and misappropriation.

Noam Chomsky’s first book on syntactic structures is one of the first serious attempts on the part of a linguist to construct within the tradition of scientific theory-construction a comprehensive theory of language which may be understood …

6

The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time

This 1973 book discusses Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and its predictions concerning black holes and singularities in space-time itself.

7

The Economic Structure of Corporate Law

This text argues that the rules and practices of corporate law mimic contractual provisions that parties involved in corporate enterprise would reach if they always bargained at zero cost and flawlessly enforced their agreements.

8

Fabric Structure and Design

The Text Book On Fabric Structure And Design Will Be Very Useful For Students Of Various Courses Of Study Related To Textiles Such As B.Tech In Textile Technology, Diploma In Textile Technology, Pg Diploma In Fashion Technology, B.Sc And M …

9

Market Structure and Innovation

A survey of the market economy’s performance in allocating resources to technical advance.

10

Information Structure and Sentence Form: Topic, Focus, and …

This major contribution to the study of discourse pragmatics investigates the ‘information structure’ of sentences.

Structural secret of T. rex’s bone-crushing teeth

Scientists have discovered the unique internal structure of the serrated teeth belonging to carnivorous dinosaurs like T. rex and Allosaurus. This structure … «BBC News, Jul 15»

Standard Chartered Shakes Up Management Structure

As part of the reorganization, the bank will also structure its business around four geographic areas: greater China and North Asia, southern Asia, Africa and the … «New York Times, Jul 15»

Instagram Releases Layout for Android, Intros Structure Tool for …

In addition to the release of Layout, Instagram also announced Structure, a tool for Android users to highlight textures and details within a photo. Structure should … «Droid Life, May 15»

SunEdison Mulls MLP Structure through TerraForm Platform

SunEdison expects to conclude the strategic review of its corporate structure by 2015-end. However, the company has neither set a timeline nor provided further … «Zacks.com, May 15»

Scientists Have Discovered the Biggest Known ‘Structure‘ In the …

Scientists researching a mysteriously cold region in space have found what they say is the largest known “structure” in the universe — a gigantic hole. «TIME, Apr 15»

Child reportedly contained in cage-like structure at ACT primary school

It is understood the structure within the classroom was built specifically for the student, believed to be a 10-year-old boy with autism, on March 10. It was … «The Canberra Times, Apr 15»

Graphene sandwich makes new form of ice

In ‘square ice’, which has been seen between graphene sheets, water molecules lock flat in a right-angled formation. The structure is strikingly different from … «Nature.com, Mar 15»

McDonald’s Plans to Change US Structure

“The reality is that our current U.S. structure is not optimized for the customer,” … The new zone structure replaces one consisting of three divisions—West, East … «Wall Street Journal, Oct 14»

Newcrest Mining to review remuneration structure

Newcrest Mining chairman Peter Hay says he will consider changes to the gold miner’s remuneration structure after receiving a first strike at its annual general … «Sydney Morning Herald, Oct 14»

Can media multitasking change your brain structure?

Although altered brain structure was linked to concurrent media usage, scientists said further research is needed to learn whether the lower gray matter density … «Fox News, Sep 14»

Download the educalingo app

Discover all that is hidden in the words on

1. ^ «structure, n.». Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Retrieved 1 October 2015.
2. ^ ^{a b} Carpinteri, Alberto (2002). Structural Mechanics: A unified approach. CRC Press. ISBN 9780203474952.
3. ^ Knippers, Jan; Cremers, Jan; Gabler, Markus; Lienhard, Julian (2011). Construction manual for polymers + membranes : materials, semi-finished products, form-finding design (Engl. transl. of the 1. German ed.). München: Institut für internationale Architektur-Dokumentation. ISBN 9783034614702.
4. ^ Zhang, Z.; Zhang, Y.-W.; Gao, H. (1 September 2010). «On optimal hierarchy of load-bearing biological materials». Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 278 (1705): 519–525. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.1093. PMC 3025673. PMID 20810437.
5. ^ ^{a b} Urry, Lisa; Cain, Michael; Wasserman, Steven; Minorsky, Peter; Reece, Jane (2017). «Evolution, the themes of biology, and scientific inquiry». Campbell Biology (11th ed.). New York: Pearson. pp. 2–26. ISBN 978-0134093413.
6. ^ ^{a b} Banaszak, Leonard J. (2000). Foundations of Structural Biology. Burlington: Elsevier. ISBN 9780080521848.
7. ^ Purves, William K.; Sadava, David E.; Orians, Gordon H.; H. Craig, Heller (2003). Life, the science of biology (7th ed.). Sunderland, Mass.: Sinauer Associates. pp. 41–44. ISBN 9780716798569.
8. ^ DeKock, Roger L.; Gray, Harry B. (1989). Chemical structure and bonding (2nd ed.). Mill Valley, Calif.: University Science Books. ISBN 9780935702613.
9. ^ Hill, Graham C.; Holman, John S. (2000). Chemistry in context (5th ed.). Walton-on-Thames: Nelson. p. 391. ISBN 9780174482765.
10. ^ Ashcroft, Neil W.; Mermin, N. David (1977). Solid state physics (27. repr. ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 9780030839931.
11. ^ Newnham, Robert E. (2005). Properties of materials anisotropy, symmetry, structure. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191523403.
12. ^ Bent, Ian D.; Pople, Anthony. «Analysis». Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
13. ^ ^{a b} Meyer, Leonard B. (1973). Explaining music : essays and explorations. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. ISBN 9780520022164.
14. ^ «Sentence». Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
15. ^ «Phrase». Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
16. ^ Stein, Leon (1979). Anthology of Musical Forms: Structure & Style (Expanded Edition): The Study and Analysis of Musical Forms. Alfred Music. ISBN 9781457400940.
17. ^ Lopez, J.; Scott, J. (2000). Social Structure. Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 9780335204960. OCLC 43708597.
18. ^ Black, Paul E. (15 December 2004). «data structure». In Pieterse, Vreda; Black, Paul E. (eds.). Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures (Online ed.). National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
19. ^ Sedgewick, Robert; Wayne, Kevin (2011). Algorithms (4th ed.). Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 9780132762564.
20. ^ Cormen, Thomas H.; Leiserson, Charles E.; Rivest, Ronald L.; Stein, Clifford (2009). «Data structures». Introduction to algorithms (3rd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. pp. 229–339. ISBN 978-0262033848.
21. ^ Mehta, Dinesh P. (2005). «Basic structures». In Mehta, Dinesh P.; Sahni, Sartaj (eds.). Handbook of data structures and applications. Boca Raton, Fla.: Chapman & Hall/CRC Computer and Information Science Series. ISBN 9781420035179.
22. ^ ^{a b} Skiena, Steven S. (2008). «Data structures». The algorithm design manual (2nd ed.). London: Springer. pp. 366–392. ISBN 9781848000704.
23. ^ Gorton, Ian (2011). Essential software architecture (2nd ed.). Berlin: Springer. ISBN 9783642191763.
24. ^ Diehl, Stephan (2007). Software visualization : visualizing the structure, behaviour, and evolution of software ; with 5 tables. Berlin: Springer. pp. 38–47. ISBN 978-3540465041.
25. ^ Bernardi, Simona; Merseguer, José; Petriu, Dorina Corina (2013). Model-Driven Dependability Assessment of Software Systems. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 46–47. ISBN 9783642395123.
26. ^ «Computers in the Space Shuttle Avionics System». Computers in Spaceflight: The NASA Experience. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
27. ^ «The Structure of Arguments». Philosophy 103: Introduction to Logic. philosophy.lander.edu. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
28. ^ ^{a b} Kemerling, Garth. «Arguments and Inference». The Philosophy Pages. Retrieved 4 October 2015.

• Carpi, A.; Brebbia, C.A. (2010). Design & nature V : comparing design in nature with science and engineering. Southampton: WIT. ISBN 9781845644543.
• Pullan, Wendy (2000). Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-78258-9.
• Rottenberg, Annette T.; Winchell, Donna Haisty (2012). The structure of argument (7th ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martins. ISBN 9780312650698.
• Schlesinger, Izchak M.; Keren-Portnoy, Tamar; Parush, Tamar (2001). The structure of arguments. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins. ISBN 9789027223593.

Noun

They studied the compound’s molecular structure.

The film had a simple narrative structure.

the structure of a plant

the social structure of a college campus

changes to the company’s power structure

The structure was damaged by fire.

Children need a lot of structure in their lives.

Verb

She structured the essay chronologically.

See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘structure.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.