Make Your Point > Archived Issues > EDIFICE
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connect this word to others:
If you've played Magic: The Gathering, you may have seen this card:
We can see here what a literal edifice is (an impressive, imposing building) and what a figurative edifice could be (something impressive and imposing, like authority, tradition, or religion).
Notice how this Magic card lists its power: it stops your opponent's creature from attacking.
If you were to create a Magic card called Skyscraper of Something, what would that Something be--and what magical power would you assign to it? How about a Buttress of Something? A Citadel of Something? Would any other words you studied recently make cool Magic cards?
make your point with...
"EDIFICE"
This word has Latin roots that mean "making a temple" or "making a house."
Strictly speaking, an edifice is a building that's large and impressive, such as a church or a palace.
And more loosely speaking, an edifice is anything that seems so large, so impressive, and so solid and permanent that it reminds you of a grand building.
Pronunciation:
ED ih fiss
Part of speech:
Noun, the countable kind: "this edifice," "these edifices," "that looming edifice."
Other forms:
edifices, edificial
How to use it:
This word is formal and common.
You might use it literally to call attention to the impressive vastness or beauty of some building. Here's the New York Times: "Open-air mosques were replaced by marble, domed edifices."
Or, you might use it figuratively. Call something "the edifice of" whatever it is: the edifice of tax law, the edifice of Greek life on campus, the entire edifice of professional sports, this shimmering edifice of the cosmetics industry.
When you do this--when you call something abstract an edifice--you're comparing it to a huge building, so you can keep that metaphor going by talking about an edifice built on such-and-such, an edifice being constructed, an edifice about to crumble or be demolished, etc.
examples:
"Much of the city [of London] lay in ruins, a ragged collection of gaps and edifices, like a child’s mouth after a lost tooth."
— Sarah Rose, D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II, 2019
"Freud, we need to realize, created the most ingenious and thoroughgoing pseudoscience ever devised... And are [fans of Freud] prepared to contemplate the likelihood that the whole Freudian edifice was a house of cards?"
— Frederick Crews, as quoted by John Horgan, Scientific American, 12 June 2019
"The advertising industry — and therefore the industries it supports, like the media — is predicated on the idea that if you've heard of something and have a positive association with it, you're more likely to buy the product... But the base assumption that the whole edifice is built on is becoming unstable, because what happens when society's attention is entirely monopolized?"
— Bijan Stephen, The Verge, 3 March 2019
has this page helped you understand "edifice"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "edifice" without saying "huge building" or "vast construct."
try it out:
So far, we've seen writers apply the word "edifice" to an industry (advertising) and to a system of belief (Freudianism).
And a writer for the Los Angeles Times applied "edifice" to a flashy lifestyle. Check it out:
"A few days later, when FBI agents showed up at their front door, the Carpoffs' extravagant life came crashing down. It was an edifice largely built on an alleged fraud — a Ponzi-type scheme, in essence, say federal authorities — that was as elaborate and brazen as their spending habits."
Think of some other grand, complex, staggeringly vast thing--maybe another type of lifestyle, industry, or system of belief--and talk about why you might call it an edifice.
What makes this thing seem so large, impressive, solid, and permanent? Who built it, and why? Is this thing well-constructed or poorly constructed? Who benefits from it? Who suffers because of it? What might lead to its collapse?
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
This month, we're playing Name Those Synonyms!
We're enjoying the gracefully written, ultra-authoritative explanations in Funk & Wagnalls Standard Handbook of Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions. In each issue, check out the passage from the book, and see if you can figure out which synonyms are being distinguished.
From the previous issue: What three synonyms (<1>, <2>, and <3>) does the Handbook distinguish below?
"<1> and <2> both express the momentary overwhelming of the mind by that which is beyond expectation. <2> especially affects the emotions, <1> the intellect. <3> lies midway between <2> and <1>, and often refers to matters of little consequence or to such as are less startling in character. <1> may be either pleasing or painful, as when induced by the grandeur of the mountains, or by the fury of the storm. We can say 'pleasant <3>,' but scarcely 'pleasant <2>.' <1> has in it something of confusion or bewilderment, but confusion and bewilderment may occur without <1>, as when a multitude of details require instant attention. <2> may be without bewilderment or confusion."
Answers:
<1> is "amazement."
<2> is "astonishment."
<3> is "surprise."
Try this today: What three synonyms (<1>, <2>, and <3>) does the Handbook distinguish below? (They are distinguished, also, from "concord.")
"When tones, thoughts, or feelings, individually different, combine to form a consistent and pleasing whole, there is <1>. <1> is deeper and more essential than <2>; we may have a superficial, forced, or patched-up <2>, but never a superficial, forced, or patched-up <1>. Concord is less full and spiritual than <1>. Concord implies more volition than <3>; as, their views were found to be in perfect <3>; or, by conference concord was secured; we do not secure <3>, but discover it. We may speak of being in <3> with a person on one point, but <1> is wider in range."
Bonus challenge: Recall the fine differences among "bright," "brilliant," and "radiant." You can view the answer in this issue.
review this word:
1. A near opposite of EDIFICIAL is
A. HUMBLE.
B. IRKSOME.
C. PERSONAL.
2. In The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Victor Hugo wrote, "And on that fact and that basis he began to _____ a fantastic edifice of hypothesis, that _____ of philosophers."
A. construct .. card-castle
B. carve .. stone sculpture
C. compose .. celestial music
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
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Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
If you've played Magic: The Gathering, you may have seen this card: This word has Latin roots that mean "making a temple" or "making a house."
"Much of the city [of London] lay in ruins, a ragged collection of gaps and edifices, like a child’s mouth after a lost tooth."
Explain the meaning of "edifice" without saying "huge building" or "vast construct."
So far, we've seen writers apply the word "edifice" to an industry (advertising) and to a system of belief (Freudianism).
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. A near opposite of EDIFICIAL is
|