flying buttress

noun

Definition of flying buttress

: a masonry structure that typically consists of a straight inclined bar carried on an arch and a solid pier or buttress against which it abuts and that receives the thrust of a roof or vault

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Recent Examples of flying buttress from the Web

Moreover, Wren’s weight-bearing walls demanded Gothic-style flying buttresses, which would have looked incongruous amid his Classicism.

— barrymore laurence scherer, WSJ, "A Symbol of Britain’s Will to Survive," 11 May 2018
The sign, which went up in the 1960s, is as much a part of Tribune Tower’s identity as its Gothic grotesques and flying buttresses.

— blair kamin, chicagotribune.com, "Tribune Tower plans would energize an old landmark, but don't yet create a new one," 18 Apr. 2018
Even its Batman top, whose glass walls would frame a swath of sky-high open space, would nod to the memorable voids formed by the tower’s flying buttresses, which insert patches of sky into the body of the skyscraper.

— blair kamin, chicagotribune.com, "Tribune Tower plans would energize an old landmark, but don't yet create a new one," 18 Apr. 2018
View 56 Photos The 570GT does away with the contrasting side scoops, flying buttresses, and short, vertical rear glass of the 570S—a car that is otherwise mechanically identical apart from model-specific chassis tuning.

— michael simari, Car and Driver, "2017 McLaren 570GT," 26 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'flying buttress.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.