Illustration of flying buttress
flying buttress
noun
: 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
Examples of flying buttress in a Sentence
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In this era, ogival windows and flying buttresses would be more bracing than yet another thicket of computerized-looking shapes.
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D. T. Max, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2025
That pinning point sustains pressure against the glacier’s interior, like a flying buttress pressing against the wall of a cathedral.
—Marissa Grunes, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Jan. 2023
The shelf and the sheet help to stabilize each other, like a flying buttress and a cathedral arch.
—David W. Brown, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2022
Once upon a time, Americans really only used Madrid as a stopover, maybe spending one night en route to somewhere else—with a broadly recognizable skyline, iconic bridge, flying buttress or other totem easily conjured in the collective imagination.
—Christian L. Wright, WSJ, 29 Apr. 2022
See All Example Sentences for flying buttress
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D. T. Max, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2025
That pinning point sustains pressure against the glacier’s interior, like a flying buttress pressing against the wall of a cathedral.
—Marissa Grunes, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Jan. 2023
The shelf and the sheet help to stabilize each other, like a flying buttress and a cathedral arch.
—David W. Brown, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2022
Once upon a time, Americans really only used Madrid as a stopover, maybe spending one night en route to somewhere else—with a broadly recognizable skyline, iconic bridge, flying buttress or other totem easily conjured in the collective imagination.
—Christian L. Wright, WSJ, 29 Apr. 2022
See All Example Sentences for flying buttress
Cite this Entry
“Flying buttress.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flying%20buttress. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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