construction

noun

1. the act of constructing something; “during the construction we had to take a detour”; “his hobby was the building of boats”

   Synonyms

   • building

   Less specific

   • creating from raw materials

   More specific

   • crenelation, crenellation, erecting, erection, house-raising, fabrication, assembly, dry walling, grading, leveling, road construction, shipbuilding, ship building, rustication

2. a group of words that form a constituent of a sentence and are considered as a single unit; “I concluded from his awkward constructions that he was a foreigner”

   Synonyms

   • grammatical construction, expression

   Antonym

   • misconstruction

   Less specific

   • constituent, grammatical constituent

   More specific

   • adjunct, clause, complement, involution, phrase, predicator

3. the creation of a construct; the process of combining ideas into a congruous object of thought

   Synonyms

   • mental synthesis

   Less specific

   • thinking, thought, thought process, cerebration, intellection, mentation

   More specific

   • crystallization, gestation

4. a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts; “the structure consisted of a series of arches”; “she wore her hair in an amazing construction of whirls and ribbons”

   Synonyms

   • structure

   Less specific

   • artifact, artefact

   More specific

   • airdock, hangar, repair shed, altar, arcade, colonnade, arch, area, balcony, balcony, bascule, boarding, body, bridge, span (more) , building, edifice, building complex, complex, catchment, coil, spiral, volute, whorl, helix, colonnade, column, pillar, corner, quoin, cross, deathtrap, defensive structure, defense, defence, door, entablature, erection, establishment, false bottom, floor, level, storey, story, fountain, guide, house of cards, cardhouse, card-house, cardcastle, housing, lodging, living accommodations, hull, jungle gym, lamination, landing, landing place, lookout, observation tower, lookout station, observatory, masonry, memorial, monument, mound, hill, obstruction, obstructor, obstructer, impediment, impedimenta, partition, divider, platform, weapons platform, porch, post and lintel, prefab, projection, public works, sail, set-back, setoff, offset, shelter, shoebox, signboard, sign, stadium, bowl, arena, sports stadium, superstructure, supporting structure, tower, transept, trestlework, vaulting, ways, shipway, slipway, wellhead, wind tunnel, honeycomb, balance, equilibrium, equipoise, counterbalance

   Parts

   • foundation, base, fundament, foot, groundwork, substructure, understructure, plate, structural member

5. drawing a figure satisfying certain conditions as part of solving a problem or proving a theorem; “the assignment was to make a construction that could be used in proving the Pythagorean theorem”

   Less specific

   • mathematical process, mathematical operation, operation

   More specific

   • quadrature

6. an interpretation of a text or action; “they put an unsympathetic construction on his conduct”

   Synonyms

   • twist

   Less specific

   • interpretation

7. the commercial activity involved in repairing old structures or constructing new ones; “their main business is home construction”; “workers in the building trades”

   Synonyms

   • building

   Less specific

   • commercial enterprise, business enterprise, business

   More specific

   • jerry-building

   Parts

   • masonry, painting, house painting, plumbing, plumbery, roofing, sheet-metal work, shingling