framework
Pluralframeworks
- 1A basic set of ideas or principles that gives structure to how something is understood or organized.
Like a skeleton that gives shape to a body of ideas.
The committee adopted a new framework for evaluating grant proposals.
Her theory offers a useful framework for thinking about social change.
Similarstructure, model, system, scheme, paradigm
Note
A metaphor that carries the builder's skeleton into thought: principles become the beams, and details hang on them. It pairs naturally with of, as in a framework of principles in accounts of Hume's association of ideas. It also pairs with in place, as John T. Jost writes in 2012: "with this biological framework in place." An adjective in front usually names the field the ideas come from.
- 2A supporting structure made of joined parts or packed particles, with open spaces between them of similar or larger size.
Like a honeycomb: solid walls around many open cells.
The sculpture's wire framework gave the wet clay something to cling to.
Engineers inspected the steel framework supporting the stadium roof.
Similarskeleton, structure, frame, armature, lattice
Note
Here the word is at its most literal, and its makeup shows: frame plus work, joined pieces that hold a shape. What sets it apart from a solid support is the open space. A framework is largely gaps between its members or packed grains. The tree's limbs and the conceptual sense borrow this picture of a skeleton that something else fills in.
- 3
- 4A reusable piece of code, sometimes bundled with other tools, that provides a standard environment for building an application.
Like a pre-furnished kitchen where the appliances are already installed and you just cook your own meals.
The team chose a lightweight framework for the new mobile app.
Many web developers rely on a framework to handle routing and security.
Similarplatform, toolkit, library
Note
Software engineering's sense turns the usual relationship around. The framework sets the architecture and control flow, and the developer supplies the specific logic, which the framework calls at defined extension points. That is the practical line between building on a framework and simply calling a piece of reusable code yourself. Teams choose, adopt and build on one, and they weigh how lightweight it is.
- 5In linguistics, an established set of rules and principles for analyzing and describing how a language is structured.
The researcher analyzed the dialect using a generative framework.
Different theoretical frameworks describe verb agreement in conflicting ways.
Similartheory, model, approach, paradigm
Note
In linguistics the word names a theory's whole toolkit: its assumptions, categories and analytic vocabulary. Analyses are done within or using a framework, so the same facts, verb agreement for instance, can come out differently under different ones. The plural is common for exactly that reason, since rival frameworks are compared. A framework is usually named by its school, as in a generative framework.
- 6
Practice
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Origin
A compound of "frame" and "work".