edifice

• ædifice (archaic)

From Middle English edifice, from Old French edifice, a classical borrowing of Latin aedificium (“building”), derived from aedificāre (“to build, establish”) (whence also English edify).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɛd.ɪ.fɪs/

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edifice (plural edifices)

1. A building; a structure; an architectural fabric, especially a large and spectacular one.
2. An abstract structure, such as a school of thought, an argument, a theoretical position, etc.
   • 1904, Edward S. Holden, “Copernicus”, in Popular science monthly, volume 65, page 117:

     The real difficulty was moral, not intellectual. Was the whole edifice of Ptolemy to be destroyed?

   • 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 165:

     With a great thump on the table, Poirot demolished his carefully built up edifice.

• edifice complex

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “edifice”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “edifice”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.