structure1 nounstructure2 verb
structurestruc‧ture1 /ˈstrʌktʃə $ -ər/ ●●● S3 W2 AWL noun 
WORD ORIGINstructure1
Origin:
1400-1500 Latin structura ‘act of building’, from struere ‘to make into a pile, build’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- a three-story wooden structure
- crystal structures
- good sentence structure
- Many visitors to the UK find the British class structure difficult to understand.
- She studied the organizational structure of the company to see whether it could be made more efficient.
- The structure of the U.S. education system lacks centralization.
- The structure of the US banking system is changing.
- The membership on the committee reflects Boston's power structure.
- The station building was a high wooden structure with a curved roof.
- The stone arch is one of the town's oldest existing structures.
- A lack of structure is intrinsic to housework; thus a psychological structure is imported to it.
- But history and chance take place in a context, a structure, a reality.
- Each of these stages is an element in a complex societal structure and cultural context.
- Instead they issue from the divided heart of humanity, perpetually institutionalised in sinful social and political structures.
- It means accepting power as natural and necessary to decision making regardless of formal structure.
- The purpose of the structure immediately outside the temple was not so obvious.
- We should ask how such a structure would work.
- You need to be sure that the structure you plan to practice is a genuine structure in the language.
THESAURUS
a structure such as a house, church, or factory, that has a roof and walls: · The college needs money to pay for new buildings.
formal a building or piece of land, or both together – used especially when talking about buying and selling buildings or land: · The next property they looked at was too small.· The company received permission to build six residential properties on the land.
formal the buildings and land that a shop, restaurant, company etc uses: · You are not allowed to drink alcohol on the premises.· The bread is baked on the premises.
a group of buildings, or a large building with many parts, used for a particular purpose: · The town has one of the best leisure complexes in the country.· a luxury apartment complex
a group of new buildings that have all been planned and built together on the same piece of land: · a new housing development· a huge industrial development
especially British English a large tall building that contains apartments or offices, or is part of a school, university, or hospital: · an office block· a block of flats· a tower block (=a very tall building - often used disapprovingly)· My next lecture is in the science block.
especially American English a place or building used for a particular activity or industry: · a research facility on campus
formal a large building, especially one that is tall and impressive – a very formal use: · Their head office was an imposing edifice.
formal something that has been made to stand upright – used especially when talking about buildings: · The stone arch is one of the town’s oldest existing structures.· an immense barn-like structure· Mogul calls this building, designed by Donald and John Parkinson in 1928, ‘the most important structure in Los Angeles of the 20th century.’
Longman Language Activatora building or group of buildings · Brewer Hall is a red-brick building with white trim.· The whole building shook when a train went past.· There's a plan to convert the farm buildings into private apartments.
a large building divided into smaller parts: block of: · The house at Number 14 was replaced by a block of flats.office/apartment block: · There's another new office block going up behind the station.· His studios are on the tenth floor of an office block overlooking the river.high-rise/tower block (=very tall block) British: · To the east is a landscape of concrete tower blocks.
a group of new buildings that have all been planned and built together on the same piece of land: · The new development at the edge of town is aimed at first-time buyers.· The former cropland has been turned into housing developments and shopping malls.
a large building or a part of a building - used especially to say what it is made of or how strong it is: · The station building was a high wooden structure with a curved roof.· The stone arch is one of the town's oldest existing structures.
to try to make someone feel sorry for you the way that something is organized, following fixed rules and methods, in order to provide a service or achieve an aim: · We're going to have to make some changes - this system just doesn't work.· Most teachers are opposed to recent changes in the education system.system of: · What we need is a cheap and reliable system of public transportation.· a democratic system of governmentsystem for (doing) something: · They are introducing a system for dealing with enquiries from customers.
informal the way in which things are organized or done within a company, school etc: · My last school was quite traditional, but it's a different set-up at the new one.· An efficient accounts set-up can not only save a company money: it can improve its relationship with its clients.
a system of lines, tubes, wires, roads etc that are connected to each other: · A 24-hour strike brought the railway network to a standstill.· US companies have invested heavily in their telecommunications networks.network of: · A network of veins and arteries carries the blood around the body.
a basic system of rules or ideas that people work within: · How do you feel you can develop your skills within the framework of the team?· We need a legal and political framework that is favourable to business.framework for: · The aim of this legislation is to provide a framework for employers and trade unions to operate in.
a system, especially a complicated one with a lot of different levels: · Many visitors to the UK find the British class structure difficult to understand.structure of: · She studied the organizational structure of the company to see whether it could be made more efficient.· The structure of the US banking system is changing.
a system of rules that makes it possible for particular things to happen or for people to do something: · Many schools have a mechanism which allows parents to inspect classroom materials.mechanism to do something: · The peace plan includes a mechanism to share power between all four parties.mechanism for (doing) something: · The free market system is an imperfect mechanism for achieving full employment.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYADJECTIVES/NOUN + structure
There is no formal structure for negotiating pay increases. a hierarchical society
· Many changes had taken place in the social and political structure of the island.
(=the way society is organized according to people’s education, jobs, income etc)· Britain had a very rigid class structure.
(=the way in which the group of people who control a country or organization are organized)· He was a critic of the country’s power structure.
(=the way managers of a business are organized)· Reform of the management structure was needed.
(=the way a profession is organized which allows you to move up and get better jobs)· Teachers now have a proper career structure.
· These genes are involved in determining the basic structure of cells.
· Scientists have been investigating the internal structure of the planet Mars.
· The book tells of the race to find the molecular structure of DNA.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES (=the shape of your face, formed by the bones in it)· She had beautiful eyes and fine bone structure.
(=a system for making progress in a career)· Teaching offers a clear career structure.
(=a social system that has classes)· He felt he was a victim of the class system.
(=the way in which a military organization is organized into ranks)· Each of our national defence forces has its own command structure.
(=the way in which the parts of a big company are organized)· The company has a new corporate structure and a new management.
There is no formal structure for negotiating pay increases. a hierarchical society (=the list of increasing salaries that someone in a job can earn)· He is almost at the top of his salary scale.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· All succeeded in completing a basic chair structure within five days - one person even made two.· Figure 10-7 also shows the basic muscle structure of the different cuts.· We had to get the basic structure right, the basic information flows in and then bring the consultants in.· Another important branch of philosophy relevant here is metaphysics, which tries to discover the basic structure of reality.· In terms of basic structure there is no doubt that Dame Sirith belongs to the same genre.· These stain hair without interfering with its basic structure.· It could only make recommendations that did not challenge the basic structure of the system.
· The House considered the complex structure point in D & F Estates.· This barrier is a complex structure that prevents many drugs and chemicals in the blood from entering the brain.· The idea of a complex structure can be applied to equipment manufactured by different suppliers, e.g. central heating boilers.· But at the time that complex structure was established, few anticipated the gusher of money about to erupt.· Consequently, these ionomers set by several competing reactions to give complex structures.· The obvious conclusion is that the complex structures must be explained in terms of the conscious states they seem developed to produce.· They tended to create complex company structures. 4.· The result is a complex structure of wage rates, characterised by a system of wage differentials.
· But the argument is that the genome is public property -- it needs a different structure of ownership.· Irons come in a variety of classes with different crystal structures, chemical compositions, and inclusions of other minerals.· Each of these situations requires a different tariff structure.· Collective entrepreneurship also entails a different organizational structure.· Each type has a slightly different chemical structure and differs slightly in how it behaves in the body.· It is perhaps not surprising that the interaction of such factors leads to very different organisational structures in different sports.· Yet each would give rise to a different organizational structure from any we are familiar with.
· One powerful argument attributes this stagnation to the economic structure set in the early 1950s.· These totals inevitably vary considerably from zone to zone, depending on its economic structure, location, and so on.· Even while the system remains capitalist it may at different phases be dominated by differently organized social and economic structures.· The economic structure of the market in assessing the competitive effect of a merger is crucial.· It will focus on the day-to-day practices and working philosophies of solicitors, and examine their economic and organisational structures.· From this perspective the seasonality is an integral part of the economic structure and should be accordingly modelled.· A home is established by the social, cultural and economic structures of the occupants of a house.· As that understanding spreads through the consumer sector, it could rattle the very economic structure of the computing industry.
· Nu advanced the ingenious suggestion that instead of the existing Commonwealth structure there should be a federation of Socialist states.· Reform would need to be deep rooted, but existing structures could be modified.· He added the scheme contravened existing structure plans and traffic risk fears had been voiced by local residents.· The new accommodation is on one floor, set round a pretty courtyard which echoes the traditional details of the existing structure.· The focal point of this existing structure is the school's policymaking group: The management board.· It should be remembered that the canal engineers had very few existing structures from which to obtain ideas.· To achieve profound change, women must necessarily work within the existing structure.· A gene has the particular effect that it does only because there is an existing structure upon which to work.
· This is what the meeting is notionally about, or as we have already described it, the formal structure.· Today, there is no formal structure to investigate or even debate whether UFOs have skipped through our atmosphere.· And the work eschews the kind of formal structure that would knit the cast into some larger imaginative world.· We have a formal structure, but we all work together.· Figure 21 shows a typical formal structure embodied in an organisation chart.· Beyond these formal structures, the folks at Thayer challenge yet one more notion that often shapes the structures of schooling.· Resources A recognised formal staff structure acts as a basis both for the processing of instructions and for job control and expansion.· We have seen that the principal intellectual characteristics of adolescence stem directly or indirectly from the development of formal structures.
· They also, to a greater or lesser extent, existed outside mainstream, predominantly male controlled, hierarchical structures.· The belief that hierarchical organizational structure makes for good business is a difficult one to give up.· What level in the hierarchical structure do you want to be at?· Many difficulties faced in the public sector will stem from the formal, hierarchical structure within which such relationships take place.· Like the other examples of structural power, the hierarchical structure creates and depends upon a situation of power imbalance.· Will departments want to introduce hierarchical structures into their records storage solely to give tomorrow's historians their bearings?· The religious houses fitted neatly into the papal hierarchical structure.
· The imposition of taxes in this model is relevant to the effect not just on prices but also on industrial structure.· There are many examples of smaller commercial, industrial and parking structures in the Art Deco style.· Britain has a particularly top-heavy industrial structure.· North-South models; international migration of labour; trade and industrial structure in the 1930s; the political economy of protectionism.· Moreover, industrial structure is not something which can be resolved merely by general debate over a general checklist of factors.· Modernization of the industrial structure had hardly begun.· But there are also important features for industrial structure which differentiate the eurobond market from most other financial markets.
· There are possible offsetting arguments concerning internal structure, but these are in any case not unambiguous in their directional effect.· However, the gut in all animals is an internal structure.· Regulationist theories, by contrast, see the internal relations and structure of each nation's economy as primary.· Diagnosis Within the internal structure of the cell, in the cytoplasm, the energetic interactions are weak and electrostatic effects predominate.· Thin sections show a great variety of internal structures important in accurate identification.· But getting the internal cost structure right for the 1990s has not simply been a case of manning level reductions.· Party political factors, professionalism and the dispositions of key personalities all usually have some bearing on internal management structures.· By form here is meant anything from their biochemistry and internal structure to their behaviour.
· Complex technology requires large-scale production, and so the need for huge investments of capital and large organisational structures.· Small pieces of sulfide rubble, failed fragments of the larger structure, litter the seafloor.· Many early stations were simply large barn-like structures, a form which was to be used for several decades.· Spartan carries important data from that experiment, which tested lighter and less expensive ways to put large structures in space.· This means that large fibrous structures form near T m, whereas greater numbers of small spherulites grow at lower temperatures.· We live in a time when people traverse lots of music, but in classical music the composer traverses larger musical structures.· These had developed true leaves, large spreading structures with which to collect as much light as possible.· Regardless, Bard said, the $ 14 million experiment showed that large structures can be inflated in orbit.
· Some say they were unaware of the full impact of the new line management structure when they met to discuss it.· Among those customers affected, substantially more than half will see price increases under the new structure, the company estimated.· The increased scale of operations also ushered in another fashion of the 1980s - new management structures.· What they envision is nothing short of a new corporate structure, in which accounting and other functions are outsourced.· The new fee structure deters the use of deputies and means that increasing claims effectively lead to decreased payment for each visit.· Under a new regulatory structure being adopted by many states, the Bells have an incentive to reduce their costs.· The misuse of inside information within the new conglomerate structure is singled out for specific analysis.· In each of these settings the goal was not to create a new structure.
· There were too many organizational structures with too few members and even less real action.· The belief that hierarchical organizational structure makes for good business is a difficult one to give up.· It focuses attention on the nature of the uncertainty and raises issues of ideas, people, organizational structure and strategy.· In some systems, users can add their own links to form new organizational structures, creating new documents from old.· The literature of the knowledge-based society already talks of organizational structures which are flatter.· Economies of organizational structure is a new game, though, played by new rules.· Even the more straight forward implementation systems tend to involve a complex organizational structure.· A flat organizational structure, appropriate to a professional group, reflects the high priority given to upward power.
· Contemporaries often appear to have been uncertain as to how best to describe the political structure of their day.· Comparative politics focuses on similarities and differences in political processes and structures.· Although the two peoples share a similar type of political structure, their religious beliefs present a striking contrast.· Left and right both tend to accept the existing political structure and differ only on the substance of policy and political personnel.· An analysis and cross-cultural comparison of such circumstances would involve study of political and ideological structures rather than technologies.· Ancient economies were routinely ravaged by high inflation, which almost always shakes the political structure until its leaders tumble down.· Moreover, such educational concepts are integrally related to political commitments to a radical and decentralised democratic social and political structure.· But further empirical research has revealed considerable diversity in the roles of particular political structures.
· This defect in the simple social structure of primary rules we may call its uncertainty.· Moreover, such educational concepts are integrally related to political commitments to a radical and decentralised democratic social and political structure.· This leads to the final area of resemblance to the great cities of the west, namely social structure.· Ageing is a fundamental feature of social structure and social change.· The social structure greatly interested Alix.· For example, it can be argued that the value of materialism integrates many parts of the social structure in Western industrial society.· Possibly dinosaurs living in the latter phase had developed complex social structures, as today occurs in some reptilian genera.· Can there remain any public consensus on the social structure if divisions between the well-off and the poor widen?
· Along with others, Gassendi obviously felt that this whole elaborate conceptual structure was obstructive to, rather than productive of, knowledge.· And not just individual men, but the whole structure of urban technological society.· Its power is determined by the degree to which it aids what that whole social structure reports as its desires.· There was wind, too, funnelling through the gorge, whining through the girders and causing the whole structure to tremble.· Both types of data, however, are problematic in that the whole structure within which careers are established changes over time.· The whole diamond structure is, in fact, one giant molecule.· The whole structure was, and to some extent was intended to be, quite flexible, almost like a basket.· There is a whole social structure associated with our life-style.
NOUN· Paula Grey, a raven haired girl in her early thirties with strong bone structure, had just entered the office.· This is a young woman whose bone structure is not fully developed.· He says it can distort bone structure, even cause heart problems.· His features were delicate; he had the bone structure of a professional model.· She had excellent bone structure, a well-shaped determined chin, a good figure and long legs.· The neck itself is subject to a form of clinical exposure, its bone structure shifting and projecting.· As she tilted her face upwards to answer, her bone structure was thrown into transitory relief.· Under the microscope even the bone structure of these dinosaurs looks more like that of living mammals than cold-blooded reptiles.
· In October he announced negotiations to review all civil service wage and career structures dating back to 1946.· I like to see a career structure in the company I work for 28.· These will directly affect the career structure within the banks, causing distortions, blockages and a recorded division of labour.· There is a shortage of suitable recruits in the diplomatic service, which offers varied experience abroad and a good career structure.· Marsh and colleagues found that there was a clear and established career structure among the youths on the terraces.· Proposed changes in the clinical career structure should make clinical nursing less of a poor relation in terms of financial recognition and status.· Teachers will be guaranteed a proper salary and career structure.· Soares, as Commander-in-Chief, urged the government to respond to military pressure for changes in pay and professional career structures.
· Weber strongly criticized Marx's attempt to explain all social cleavages as the product of economically based class structures and struggles.· Cooley acknowledges the class structure as a pervasive reality and he too is distressed by the dominance of the top class.· Category scale grammar See class structure grammar.· Category scale grammar See class structure grammar. Class structure grammar See also class; set; system; structure.· This can be assessed by linking class structure to income distribution figures.· Meanwhile, other areas of the class structure are much less open.· In class structure grammar these form a class.
· There is also the danger of spreading resources too thinly and separating teams from local authority power structures.· Thus in about 30 percent of the contemporary political systems the legislature need not be considered a major power structure.· This work centres on a examination of how crime is related to the power structure of society.· A systemwide school-to-career steering committee reflects the power structure in Boston.· Political explanations Radical feminist and Marxist feminist interpretations of the education system have focused less on attitudes and more on power structures.· The 1988 Act has made fundamental alterations to the power structure of the education system laid down in 1944.· But the boxing power structure is white and it's going to be a slow change.· Impartiality and family power structures Embarking on family counselling can subtly change the relationship between the counsellor and the older counsellee.
VERB· No city or government wants to build earthen structures or allow them to be built.· To varying extents, this guidance was built into the structure of many of the sites that I visited.· I have built up a rock structure to the water height in the middle of the tank.· This required careful and delicate safeguards that would be built into the governmental structure and become an integral part of it.· Without earthworms and other soil life, no amount of cultivations and chemical fertilizers will build and sustain true structure and fertility.· It is built into the structure of some sports, such as skiing, parachuting, and flying.· The unpredictability of life is built into his structure as an essential part ofit.· Angelita is describing the uses of the building, the only recently built structure on the entire Unidad Producci6n Fonseca.
· Society had changed from the earlier structure where primitive valuables were of greater importance.· This variation, which slightly changes the structure of the receptor, is apparently vital to making the receptor sensitive to alcohol.· Many companies have considerably slimmed down and changed their corporate structures.· Rather than change their vision to fit the current structures of schooling, they have changed the structures to accommodate their vision.· Nationalisation and the frequent replacement of individual owner-managers by shareholders and managerial bureaucracies have both changed the structure of industry.· Yet those committed to change in communication structures have been slow to link up with these and other movements.· These ferns began to slowly change shape and structure during the Devonian, and some became tall and tree-like.· Their production in secret laboratories also means it is possible to change the structure of the molecules slightly.
· Barriers to empathy are created by some social structures and divisions, such as those of race, religion and class.· Gradually they began building a rapport based on this mutual love for creating structures.· They tended to create complex company structures. 4.· Marshall argued, correctly, that this would create an unworkable command structure.· Those who argue that creating such a structure would take years and waste valuable time are probably right.· In each of these settings the goal was not to create a new structure.· Significant changes have been achieved in work organization without having to create additional permanent structures to maintain the momentum of change.· The best way to create solid structure without expending extra editing time is through the fast and simple process of listing.
WORD FAMILYnounstructurerestructuringstructuralismstructuralistadjectivestructuralstructuraliststructuredverbstructurerestructureadverbstructurally
1[countable, uncountable] the way in which the parts of something are connected with each other and form a whole, or the thing that these parts make upsocial/political/economic etc structure the social structure of organizations challenges to the existing power structure A new management structure has been introduced.structure of the structure of the brain molecular structures2[countable] something that has been built, especially something large such as a building or a bridge: a high wooden structure with a curved roof3[countable, uncountable] a situation where activities are carefully organized and planned: These kids require a lot of structure and stability. → career structure at career1(1)COLLOCATIONSADJECTIVES/NOUN + structuresocial/political/economic structure· Many changes had taken place in the social and political structure of the island.class structure (=the way society is organized according to people’s education, jobs, income etc)· Britain had a very rigid class structure.power structure (=the way in which the group of people who control a country or organization are organized)· He was a critic of the country’s power structure.management structure (=the way managers of a business are organized)· Reform of the management structure was needed.career structure (=the way a profession is organized which allows you to move up and get better jobs)· Teachers now have a proper career structure.basic structure· These genes are involved in determining the basic structure of cells.internal structure· Scientists have been investigating the internal structure of the planet Mars.molecular structure· The book tells of the race to find the molecular structure of DNA.structure1 nounstructure2 verb
structurestructure2 ●○○ AWL verb [transitive] VERB TABLE
structure
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | structure |
| he, she, it | structures | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | structured |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have structured |
| he, she, it | has structured | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had structured |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will structure |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have structured |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am structuring |
| he, she, it | is structuring | |
| you, we, they | are structuring | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was structuring |
| you, we, they | were structuring | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been structuring |
| he, she, it | has been structuring | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been structuring |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be structuring |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been structuring |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Bidwell still has not decided how to structure the business.
- I have structured the book so that the main points are revisited several times.
- If we structure the meeting effectively, I think we should be able to cover everything.
- Police culture is omnipotent is structuring such views of critical research.
- The programme is structured around periods of residential study supported by distance learning material.
- You need to structure your business along sound financial lines.
Longman Language Activatorto arrange something in a particular way
also organise British to arrange something so that it is clear, effective, or tidy: · I like the way you've organized the information in the report.· You need to organize your financial records and figure out exactly how much money you owe.organize something into groups/piles/sections etc: · The paintings in the exhibition are organized into five sections.
to organize a group of things that is mixed up or untidy, or organize a lot of information that is confusing or unclear: sort out something: · After class we needed time to sort out the enormous amount of information we had been given.· First let's sort out all the pieces before we try putting them together.sort something out: · When are you going to sort all these files out?
to carefully organize a piece of writing or a system so that it is easy to understand or use: · I have structured the book so that the main points are revisited several times.· If we structure the meeting effectively, I think we should be able to cover everything.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES There is no formal structure for negotiating pay increases. a hierarchical society
(=the shape of your face, formed by the bones in it)· She had beautiful eyes and fine bone structure.
(=a system for making progress in a career)· Teaching offers a clear career structure.
(=a social system that has classes)· He felt he was a victim of the class system.
(=the way in which a military organization is organized into ranks)· Each of our national defence forces has its own command structure.
(=the way in which the parts of a big company are organized)· The company has a new corporate structure and a new management.
There is no formal structure for negotiating pay increases. a hierarchical society (=the list of increasing salaries that someone in a job can earn)· He is almost at the top of his salary scale.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· In general, what the theory of dialectic materialism states is that every society is structured around its material basis of production.· The program is structured around four-month online sessions broken up by two-week sessions on campus.· The programme is structured around periods of residential study supported by distance learning material.· The purchase has been structured around an immediate £19 million cash payment, with the balance deferred until October 1993.· Feminism, like psychology, is structured around a defined object, gender relations.· Their article is structured around two case studies in racialized representation: the film Mona Lisa and the novel Beloved.
NOUN· There are a number of ways of structuring the deal.
· They also had some excellent ideas about how to structure their family life to avoid it.· The inhabitants have structured their lives around the ocean.
· I imagine that the work will be structured in two different ways.· The moment was structured that way.· Any marketplace can be structured in different ways by government rules, of course.· If the classification of living creatures is structured in this way, there will inevitably be a conflict with technically determined levels.· I asked why the history of modern art was structured in one way, along one mute, and not others?· It also contained the following findings: Children performed better when the day was structured in some way.
WORD FAMILYnounstructurerestructuringstructuralismstructuralistadjectivestructuralstructuraliststructuredverbstructurerestructureadverbstructurally
to arrange the different parts of something into a pattern or system in which each part is connected to the others SYN organize: The exhibition is structured around three topics. software that helps users structure their work and their data