From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
construction
n 1: the act of constructing something; "during the construction
we had to take a detour"; "his hobby was the building of
boats" [syn: construction, building]
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" [syn:
construction, grammatical construction, expression]
[ant: misconstruction]
3: the creation of a construct; the process of combining ideas
into a congruous object of thought [syn: construction,
mental synthesis]
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" [syn: structure, construction]
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"
6: an interpretation of a text or action; "they put an
unsympathetic construction on his conduct" [syn:
construction, twist]
7: the commercial activity involved in repairing old structures
or constructing new ones; "their main business is home
construction"; "workers in the building trades" [syn:
construction, building]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Construction \Con*struc"tion\, n. [L. constructio: cf. F.
construction.]
1. The process or art of constructing; the act of building;
erection; the act of devising and forming; fabrication;
composition.
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2. The form or manner of building or putting together the
parts of anything; structure; arrangement.
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An astrolabe of peculiar construction. --Whewell.
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3. (Gram.) The arrangement and connection of words in a
sentence; syntactical arrangement.
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Some particles . . . in certain constructions have
the sense of a whole sentence contained in them.
--Locke.
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4. The method of construing, interpreting, or explaining a
declaration or fact; an attributed sense or meaning;
understanding; explanation; interpretation; sense.
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Any person . . . might, by the sort of construction
that would be put on this act, become liable to the
penalties of treason. --Hallam.
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Strictly, the term [construction] signifies
determining the meaning and proper effect of
language by a consideration of the subject matter
and attendant circumstances in connection with the
words employed. --Abbott.
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Interpretation properly precedes construction, but
it does not go beyond the written text. --Parsons.
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Construction of an equation (Math.), the drawing of such
lines and figures as will represent geometrically the
quantities in the equation, and their relations to each
other.
Construction train (Railroad), a train for transporting men
and materials for construction or repairs.
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