construction
Pluralconstructions (some meanings)
- 1The process of building or putting something together.
The construction of the cathedral spanned several centuries.
Heavy rain delayed construction of the apartment complex.
UsageNo article in under construction; elsewhere with or without the: (the) construction was delayed. The thing built follows of or on: construction of a bridge.
Similarbuilding, erection, assembly, creation, fabrication
Oppositedemolition, destruction
- 2The trade or industry concerned with building structures.
She left teaching to start a career in construction.
The construction sector slowed sharply during the recession.
UsageOften work in construction, and before nouns: a construction worker, a construction site.
- 3The way in which something is built or assembled.
The bridge's steel construction allows it to bear heavy loads.
Reviewers praised the laptop for its sturdy construction.
UsageOften after an adjective (solid construction), or as of + adjective + construction: a chair of simple construction.
Similarbuild, structure, design, workmanship
Note
Here the word describes how something is made, its method, materials and quality, not an object. Robert Barr's Lord Stranleigh Abroad (1913) admires the business-like construction of stout dams. The words that cluster around it say what the parts are made of or how well they were put together, not what the finished thing is for.
- 4Something that has been built or put together from parts, such as a building, a model or a work of art.
The sculpture was a delicate construction of wire and glass.
The sculpture in the lobby is a towering construction of glass panels and steel cables.
UsageOften a construction of its materials: a construction of wire and glass.
- 5An idea, category or belief that people or a society have invented and come to agree on, as opposed to one existing in nature.
Many historians treat national borders as a political construction rather than a natural division of land.
The essay argues that ideas of childhood are cultural constructions that have changed over the centuries.
UsageUsually with what shaped it in front: a social, cultural or political construction.
Note
To call something a construction is to argue that people made it, and so could have made it differently, which is why the word so often carries an argument with it. Keep it apart from the "interpretation" meaning, the construction one puts on a remark, where one person reads something rather than a society making it.
- 6The way a text, statement or action is understood or explained; an interpretation, especially of a law.
The court favored a strict construction of the statute.
Different readers placed very different constructions on the poem's ending.
UsageOften put or place a construction on something, with a judging adjective: put the worst construction on it. Of laws, a strict construction of a statute.
Note
In Hilary Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety (1992), a family fears people might put the worst construction on sending a girl away. The interpretation belongs to the onlookers, not the actor, so it can easily be unfair.
Less common meanings
- 7In grammar, a particular pattern by which words are combined into a meaningful phrase, clause, or sentence.
Passive constructions place the affected thing before the verb.
The sentence relies on an unusual grammatical construction.
UsageOften with a label in front: a passive construction, a causative construction.
Similarstructure
Note
Grammarians use the word for a pattern, not just a single sentence. It is an arrangement of words that carries a meaning of its own, like the passive (the cake was eaten) or the double comparative (the sooner, the better). One construction can turn up in countless different sentences.
- 8A figure, or the method of drawing it, that uses only a compass to draw arcs and a straightedge to draw straight lines.
The classic construction for an equilateral triangle uses two intersecting arcs.
Greek mathematicians prized constructions achievable with compass and straightedge alone.
Note
A geometer's word for a figure, or the method of drawing it, using only an unmarked straightedge and a compass, with no measuring and no marked ruler. The restriction is the point. To ask whether a figure has a construction is to ask whether those two tools alone can reach it. Used countably, it names each such figure, as in the construction of an equilateral triangle.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Classical geometric construction restricts the tools to a compass and an unmarked straightedge, without ruler measurements. en.wikipedia.org
- Constructibility concerns whether the permitted tools and operations can produce the desired figure. math.ucr.edu
- An equilateral triangle can be constructed using circles and straight lines. mathcs.clarku.edu
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of construction apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
From Middle English construccioun, borrowed through Old French construction from Latin cōnstructiō (from the verb cōnstruere). It can also be seen as construct + the suffix -ion.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The word comes from Middle English construccioun through Old French construction. en.wiktionary.org
- The Latin source is cōnstructiō, derived from the verb cōnstruere. en.wiktionary.org
- The word can be analyzed morphologically as construct + -ion. en.wiktionary.org