n. A foundation; a substructure. [Latin substrūctiō, substrūctiōn-, from substrūctus, past participle of substruere, to build beneath : sub-, sub- + struere, to build, pile up; see ster-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] sub·struction·al adj. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.